"Can't you do something to stop it?" Clare asked, her voice thick with tears.

Pilar sighed, his voice as distant as everyone else's. "I've always found elves to be so melodramatic, but since she did stop you from slaying my mortal form, I will return the favor."

"You've done enough already," Paen snarled.

"Not yet, but I'm about to. This will accord us without debt on either side," Pilar said.

"What-"

I was ripped from Paen's side, yanked without ceremony from my existence to another one, a world filled with drifting souls and beings which had been caught there.

"Behold the Akashic Plain," a familiar voice said behind me.

Epilogue.

"You already talked to him-why do you need to talk to him again?" I held the phone away from my ear for a second. "No, he's not going to change his mind. He's not that kind of man, and besides, he can't. I'm his Beloved. He can't impregnate me and leave me for someone else. Well, OK, he could, but he wouldn't because he's nice. And he loves me. A lot. He was going to destroy a G.o.d for me! Only a man head over heels in love would decide to do something so ridiculous."

My mother, never one to keep feelings to herself, unburdened herself of several items, up to and including the likelihood that the elf side of my family would look down on Paen because of his dark origins. "Like I care what they think?" I flinched at the barrage that followed that statement. "Sorry. Yes. Yes, I hear you. Yes, yes, yes. Huh? Of course we're going to get married! I don't know about Clare-she and Finn seem to be pretty tight. More than her usual boyfriends. I think they may be getting serious. We'll just have to see how that goes."

Outside, traffic hummed along merrily in another gloriously sunny-AKA rare-May day.

"No, you can't talk to him again, you've talked to him three times already today. Someone finally tracked down his parents, so he's telling them everything that's been happening. Yes, you'll meet them. Yes, they're nice. Mom-" I sighed and prayed for patience. "No, I won't let his mother help me pick out a wedding dress, OK? I have to go. No, now is not a good time to look into ear reconstruction surgery-I'm happy with my ears! Paen likes them, too. No... no... it's not a matter of money, I just don't want them re-elfed! Look, I really, really have to... Mom... Mom, Paen is stark naked with an erection that could bring down buildings, and he's calling for me. Gotta run! Love to you and Dad. Again. Bye!"

I clicked off the phone to the sound of my mother sputtering indignantly, rubbing my ear in an attempt to get feeling back into it as I leaned against the wall and stretched. I knew my mother was going to be excited by the news that I was now immortal (something she had been fretting over ever since I had my ears bobbed), and madly in love with a man who was just as crazy about me, but she was running amok with international phone calls. I had a suspicion she'd be dragging Dad over to Scotland in the very near future.

Still at it?

My toes curled at the warm, rich voice in my head. Yes. It feels good. I like doing it. I may do it every single day from here until the end of our time.

Paen sighed from where he leaned against the door. "How is your arm?"

I smiled at nothing and arched my back, relishing the absolute joy that sunlight on my skin brought, making me giddy from the power it fed me. I was clad in a rather risque eyelash lace chemise... and nothing else. "Perfect. You were right-the sunlight did a lot to hurry along the healing process."

"I thought it might. Was that your mother again?"

"Of course. We'll probably hear from her another good dozen times today before she works most of the excitement out of her system. I liked your parents."

"Good. They liked you, as well. My mother says you're not to pick out a wedding dress until they get back to Scotland. She's Previous Topexcited about having a daughter-in-law and doesn't want to let any of the wedding planning slip past her."

I laughed. "That'll be a battle royal-my mom against yours. Oh well, we'll let them work it out. I don't really care so long as the end result is the same."

He raised an eyebrow. "Wild, unbridled wedding night s.e.x?"

"No." I shook my head, to his surprise. "A pa.s.sionate, romantic, wonderful beginning to our eternal wedded bliss."

He smiled.

"Followed immediately by wild, unbridled wedding night s.e.x."

"Sam? Are you decent?" Clare's voice drifted in through the closed door. Paen edged past the pool of sunlight on the floor, grabbed my robe from where it lay over the wooden rhino, tossing it to me before he opened the door.

I sat up on the window seat where I'd been soaking up the all-healing rays from the sun, and watched with curiosity as Clare forged a path into the room. "We brought you some flowers-merciful G.o.ddess, what happened here?"

Paen handed her the machete. "It appears her plants are happy again."

"Good G.o.d, it's like a jungle," Finn said, only part of him visible as he fought his way past a particularly exuberant African oil palm. "I expect to see a lion or rhinoceros at any moment."

Paen moved aside to hold back a rubber tree leaf.

Finn laughed at the sight of my rhino. Clare disdained the use of the machete and beat her way over to my dresser, placing a large bouquet of hothouse flowers there, turning them until she was happy with the presentation. "Are you all better?"

I stretched in the sunlight, happiness welling out of me as I looked at Paen where he leaned against the wall, his arms crossed casually over his chest. Those lovely eyes of his were like sunlight on silver, shining back at me. "Yes, I'm all better now."

"Good. Is your mother happy about the wedding?"

"Very, although she is a bit annoyed we haven't actually set a date. I tried explaining to her that I only just forced Paen to his knees to propose, but you know how she is once she gets an idea-she doesn't much listen to anyone else."

"Well, she is an elf. You know how they are."

I sent Paen a mischievous grin. "Mom did say that she'd be perfectly happy organizing a double wedding, if you and Finn..." I let the suggestion fade to a stop, expecting one or the other of them to voice a negative exclamation. To my surprise, they just eyed each other for a moment.

"You never know," Finn said finally, with a grin that warmed my heart.

"I'm going to expect a lot more than a proposal in a car riding home from the scene of a demon attack," Clare informed him, then s.n.a.t.c.hed one of the flowers from the vase and popped a petal in her mouth as she turned back to me. "Speaking of that, perhaps you can explain to me what exactly happened. Paen was too busy taking care of you after Pilar dumped you on the ground, and then Finn was bleeding and he had to eat, and those movie people wanted to talk to me about a possible role in an upcoming science fiction movie, and... well, with all that, I just never did find out what happened."

"Pilar took Sam to the Akashic Plain," Paen answered, a small smile making the corners of his mouth turn up.

Have I told you today how much I love you?Yes. Seven times, as a matter of fact.

Ah.

It's not nearly enough.

I grinned.

"But how did he do that?" Clare asked, absently plucking a carnation from the bouquet and peeling off a few petals, which she promptly ate. "I thought it was impossible to get to the Akashic Plain?"

"Linear thinking," I said cryptically, and sent Paen a mental image of me stroking every square inch of him.

He straightened up. All of him.

"What?"

"Pilar is a G.o.d. There are places where deities can break the rules. The Akashic Plain is one of them."

Paen sent me back images of myself covered in whipped cream, and him with a bowl of strawberries.

I shivered, but not from cold.

"Oh. So he took Sam to the Akashic Plain to get her soul back, and then plopped her back in our reality?"

"Yes." I dwelled lovingly over what it felt like taking Paen into my mouth, of the scent and taste of him, of the joy I received in giving him pleasure.

"And he wasn't angry about Paen cutting off his arm?"

"Not angry enough to wreak any vengeance, no," Paen answered. He thought about nibbling on my ears. My entire body tightened in response.

"What about the statue? If it was a demon lord's statue, why didn't Brother Jacob see that? And why was the monkey statue hidden inside the bird one?"

"The bird statue shielded the Jilin G.o.d, making it impossible for anyone to detect its dark origins." I remembered what it felt like when Paen thrust hard into my body, causing every single one of my muscles to tighten around him.

"The demon lord who held it hid the statue within another one for security. He changed the outer statue's shape every so often, in case Caspar was on to it." Paen dwelled lovingly on the thought of my nipples.

I sucked in a breath, my body tingling like mad from his mental images.

"All right, that I understand, but what about your father? How did he get the statue?"

"Er... Clare, my sweet, I think we should be going now," Finn said, looking from me to Paen.

"But your father..." She popped another bit of carnation into her mouth.

I recalled what it felt like to ride him, our bodies moving together in a rhythm that swept us into ecstasy.

Paen lurched forward, stopping abruptly at the edge of the sunlight."I think they need some time to themselves right now," Finn said, shooting Paen a grin before swinging Clare up in his arms and fighting his way to the door. She giggled as he kissed her nose. "Actually, as it turns out, Caspar forged part of that receipt. He did help Dad find Mum, but the payment due was Dad's a.s.sistance in locating the statue, nothing more..."

"You do realize the irony of this, don't you?" Paen asked as the door closed behind them. He skirted the sunlight, stalking me as a predator would. I shed the robe, then, after a moment's thought, the chemise as well.

"The irony of you proposing to a sun elf? Yes, my darling Paen, I do indeed realize that I'm going to have to learn to love the moonlight."

"And I'm going to have to make sure the castle brings in even more profit than it does now," he said in a low voice filled with arousal as he pulled off his shirt and pants, standing naked just at the edge of the pool of sunlight.

"Really?" I admired him for a moment, merging myself with him, wanting to burst into song with the happiness I felt when our souls twined around each other and became one. "Why is that?"

"Sunblock," he growled, ignoring the sunlight as he stepped into it to scoop me up, carrying me to the bed. "I'm going to need lots and lots of sunblock."

Three months later the CEO of a UK-based company which produced sunblock, amongst other pharmaceuticals, happily reported to board members a quarter of record sales. He just couldn't figure out why most of the sales were concentrated around a remote Scottish town...

Read on for a preview of Katie MacAlister's next Aisling Grey, Guardian, novel Light My Fire Coming from Signet Eclipse in November 2006 "I hate it when people do things like that," I grumbled as I slammed shut the door to Nora's apartment.

"What, act polite?"

"No, do that horrible foreshadowing thing that everyone around here seems to do." I tossed down Jim's leash and went to check Nora's answering machine to see if there were any messages from the shipping company. "Just once I'd like someone to walk up to me and, instead of predicting disaster or bad luck or any of the myriad other unpleasant happenings that have been predicted for me, say, 'Aisling, you're going to win the lottery today. Or lose ten pounds overnight. Or fall madly in love with the next man you see.' Anything but foreshadowing."

Jim sighed. "It's all about you, isn't it? Never thinking about anyone else, only concerned about your own happiness."

I glared openmouthed at the demon as a knock sounded on the door. I hurried toward it, glad I'd left the outer door unlocked for the delivery guys. "That is so totally off base, and you know it!"

"Fine, you want to be that way..." Jim scratched a spot behind its left ear and considered its crotch as it said, "Aisling, you're going to win the lottery today, lose ten pounds overnight, and fall madly in love with the next man you see."I opened the door on the last of his words.

The man standing in the doorway raised an eyebrow. "Hindsight, so they say, is twenty-twenty."

My jaw dropped. My heart speeded up. My lungs seemed suddenly airless. And my stomach wadded up into a small leaden ball.

A small fire burst into being on the nearby area rug. Jim ran over to stomp it out.

"Drake," I said on a gasp, air rushing once again into my lungs. "What are you-"

"You are hereby summoned to attend a synod of the green dragons tomorrow. Attendance is mandatory." Drake slapped a stiff black portfolio into my hands and turned to leave.

"Hey! A synod? Wait a minute-Jim, there's another one near the curtains."

Drake spun around again, his green eyes blazing with emotion-eyes that I knew so well, that had once seemed to hold everything I wanted. But that was before he betrayed me...

"Do you refute your oath of fealty to the sept? Do you refuse to honor your commitments, mate?"

"No," I answered, lifting my chin. I'd known all along that I was bound to the dragon sept that Drake ruled as wyvern. Even though we were no longer together, technically I was still his mate, and until I could find a way to undo that, I owed them my help when needed. I'd been braced and ready for this ever since I'd left Budapest. "No, I am not refuting my oath to the sept. I will attend the meeting as your mate. I simply wanted to know..." The words died on my lips.

He crossed his arms over his chest. "What did you want to know?"

Whether he missed me? Whether his heart hurt as much as mine? Whether he regretted betraying me the way he did? Those were the first three things that came to mind, but there were others. All of which were questions that I would ask over my cold, lifeless corpse. So to speak. Luckily, before I had to try to think of an impersonal question, Jim stepped in to the rescue.

"You really are going to have to get a grip on controlling dragonfire, Ash. Hiya, Drake. Come crawling back, did you? Man, you are so whipped." Jim shambled over to give Drake a quick sniff. "I never met anyone so completely-Fires of Abaddon! You don't have to barbecue me!"

"Don't set Nora's bathroom on fire," I warned as Jim raced off to put out the flames that burst into a corona around its head. I turned back to Drake, less worried about Jim's doggy form taking harm than about Nora's bath towels. "You get points for marksmanship, but lose on effect. Roasting Jim alive won't do anything but leave the scent of burnt dog hair hanging around the apartment."

Drake looked thoughtful as he rubbed his chin. "Actually, I was off. I was aiming for you."

My eyes opened wide as his words filtered through the sudden love/anger/sadness c.o.c.ktail that had recently become my usual my emotional state. "You wanted to burn me?"

Drake moved so fast, it didn't even register in my brain. One minute he was standing several paces away; the next he was pushing me up against the open door, his body hard and aggressive, mine automatically answering by going all soft on him. "You cannot be under any delusion that you can simply walk away from me."

"I know I p.r.i.c.ked your pride by leaving you," I said carefully, telling my body to stop mugging him and to behave itself so I could concentrate on reasoning with the most unreasonable dragon in human form that ever walked the planet. "But there is nothing more between us, Drake. It's over.""It is not... over..." he growled, his lips so close to mine I could feel the heat of his mouth. The scent of him, spicy and masculine and uniquely Drake, went immediately to my head and made me giddy with want. But beneath that want, there was heartache, a pain so profound it all but crippled me for the week following our breakup. It had taken seven long days of nonstop sobbing for me to come to a point where I could get on with my life... without Drake at my side.

"Oh, man. He's going to pork you right here in front of me, isn't he? Jeez, and they say dogs have no shame."

"Demon, silence. And close your eyes," I ordered, unable to see if Jim followed my command, because Drake chose that moment to claim my mouth. He was a naturally arrogant, dominant man, and those qualities showed in his kisses. He wooed with a pa.s.sion that left my knees weak and my toenails steaming. His entire body entered into the kiss he gave me, one hand sweeping up to cup my breast, the other sliding down my back to grab my b.u.t.t, pulling my hips tighter against his.

Fire flamed to life in him, dragonfire, the familiar heat of it as welcome as manna as it roared through me, igniting my soul. My heart, my poor abused heart, wept with agony at the feel of him with me, joining our halves together in a way much more elemental than mere s.e.x. It was as if our souls fit together, one completing the other, the two of us together forming one brilliant, glorious being that would burn together for all eternity...

"No!" I cried, pulling my mouth from his. "You are not going to seduce me again! Dammit, you broke my heart, Drake. You can't piece it back together with glue made up of a few kisses and mind-numblingly fabulous s.e.x! Over means over! I will honor my vow to the sept. I will present myself as your mate at the weyr and sept meetings. I will support your dragon decisions in any way I can. But I will not allow you to destroy me again!"

One of his long, sensitive fingers pushed aside my shirt to trace the rounded sept emblem that he'd branded into my flesh, marking me as a wyvern's mate. The emerald fire in his eyes slowly banked as he spoke. "You are mine, Aisling. You are mine today, tomorrow, and five hundred years from now. You will always be mine. I do not give up my treasures, kincsem. You would do well to remember that."