Timeless Love: Freyodin Warriors, #2

By Elizabette Remon

Immortality is never ending and unforgiving when you’re all alone…

Vex is a Freyodin Warrior sworn to protect mortals from the evils of the world.  He’s bitter and angry since he lost his love several years ago, but pushes through to do the job he pledged to do when he became immortal.  With his deadly daggers, he duals out punishment as fierce as the pain that slices his own heart.

Rebecca is linguist at the nearby university working on translating an ancient scroll and solving a riddle that could change the course of history as well as the future as we know it.  She stubbles into trouble that requires someone rescue and protect her.  Hiding her away from the danger that seeks to destroy her.  And she is Vex’s lost love.  Lost because of her humanity.

It’s an assignment he doesn’t want, but can’t trust to anyone else.  Will Vex be able to save her from their enemies and from himself or will she be lost to him once again?

Timeless Love is about 100,000 words, and the second book in a series of paranormal romance novels, following the Freyodin Warriors and the mortals that love them.  If you’re looking for stories that contains love, lust, epic battles, fierce warriors and the enemies who taunt them, you’ve found the right read!  These books can be read standalone or in the series order.  No cliffhangers and every book contains a guaranteed HEA!

• Language: English
• Publisher: HEA Scribe LLC
• Release date: Sep 8, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370066247

Book preview

TIMELESS

LOVE

A NOVEL OF THE FREYODIN WARRIORS

ELIZABETTE REMON

Copyright Information

Love’s Betrayal

Elizabeth Emmons

Copyright 2016 Elizabeth Emmons

Published by HEA Scribe, LLC

Smashwords Edition

Cover Art by Elizabeth Emmons; AdobeStock_61579063

eBooks are not transferrable.  They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of these works.

This is a work of fiction.  Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.  Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved.  This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Warning: Adult Reading Material

This story, while purely fictional,

is meant for adults and contains explicit

material including sex and violence.

It is not suitable for persons

under the age of 18.

Readers, please be advised.

Immortality is never ending and unforgiving when you’re all alone...

Vex is a Freyodin Warrior sworn to protect mortals from the evils of the world.  He’s bitter and angry since he lost his love several years ago, but pushes through to do the job he pledged to do when he became immortal.  With his deadly daggers, he duals out punishment as fierce as the pain that slices his own heart.

Rebecca is linguist at the nearby university working on translating an ancient scroll and solving a riddle that could change the course of history as well as the future as we know it.  She stubbles into trouble that requires someone rescue and protect her.  Hiding her away from the danger that seeks to destroy her.  And she is Vex’s lost love.  Lost because of her humanity.

It’s an assignment he doesn’t want, but can’t trust to anyone else.  Will Vex be able to save her from their enemies and from himself or will she be lost to him once again?

Dedication

To our fathers.  May you rest in peace and love.

Table of Contents

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Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

About The Author

Upcoming Release

They are guardian angels in a paranormal army who battle demons.  Demons that have succeeded in crossing over into the mortal realm.  Their crusade is endless, therefore they are immortal.  Not heavenly saints or divine angels, by far.  They are warriors.  Freyodin Warriors.  Chosen by the Gods Odin and Freya for their extraordinary honor, bravery and supreme sacrifice to their individual causes for the good of their own people.  Now, they fight side by side for the good of all mankind...

CHAPTER ONE

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Ten years earlier...

It was the hardest goddamn thing he’d ever had to do.

His gut clenched and he felt as if someone was ripping out his heart from his chest cavity with a million red hot pokers as he softly closed the door for the final time and began to force his feet to trudge down the cement walkway.  The pressure encompassing his head would surely explode at any moment and his vision blurred, making it impossible to decipher the jagged cracks on the pavement below.  The brilliant early morning sky above him resembled a kaleidoscope bursting upon the horizon, but all he could see was the gloomy grays burrowing his feet. Oh Goddess, why did it have to hurt so much?  Why did he have to feel so much?  He hadn’t intended for this to happen, hadn’t planned it.  But it did.  Like it was preordained, predestined or something utterly unavoidable.  He wished he’d had Zahara’s gifts of sight and visions to forewarn him of this insufferable mistake.  He’d gladly go back and undo it all to stop this torture he alone must bear.

Wait!  No!  That’s not right.  Never.

Never would he forget, nor would he regret.  This was his path to travel and it had been so blessedly sweet while it lasted.  Somehow, he’d try to remember the happier moments when it became too hard to deal.  Like now.  He’d have to find a way to separate the pain from the memories.  Somehow.

He attempted that now as his thoughts drifted to last night...

*****

It took everything he had within him to hold his emotions in check.  This was their last night together and she couldn’t know it.  If all went well, he’d keep it together long enough to use his gift of enthrallment to carefully extract all memory of him and their time together from her mind.  He had to do it.  It was the only way he could think to spare her the pain.  She deserved a better life.  Although letting her go would hurt worse than the pain of a thousand scorpion strikes upon his flesh, he knew it was the right thing to do.  For her sake.

Thunder was right.  His leader had commanded him to end the relationship.  The relationship that should not have gotten as far as it did, especially in such a short time span.  The Warriors could dabble in sexual adventure with mortals but lasting relationships were forbidden.  It was too great a threat to their secret existence.

Even though she was incredibly mature for her age, in reality she was only eighteen years of age.  She was finishing her first year at college and her life had just begun.  He was no match for her.  Only through the grace of the Gods was he living out his second existence as a Freyodin Warrior.  A life she knew naught and could never be a part of.

But knowing this hadn’t kept him from falling in love with her.  Falling hard and fast.  And now he must end it.  But he would make love to her...one last time.  That is what he must think on for now.

Rebecca, he murmured against the soft shell of her ear while running his strong hands up and down the length of her long, slender legs.  He continued his slow exploration of her body as they lay naked together, memorizing every curve, bend and dip of her.  Just as he would take her memories away, he wanted his memories to last until his last breath.

Rebecca’s passion heightened almost to the point of madness. Ben, stop teasing me, she begged.  She was the only person he allowed to call him by his given name.  The name he answered to when he was mortal.  Please.  Her plea was a warm rasping whisper across his skin as she nuzzled into the crook of his neck.

In due time, my love.  We have all night.

No, Ben.  I need you now.  She writhed against him trying to find purchase and force him to cease his gentle ministrations, to touch her where she needed him most.  She wanted his rough hands on her, in her.  His mouth doing all the things she so loved that sent her soaring to the clouds.

And you have me now, he teased with a slight laugh, refusing her request.  He continued with his light strokes up and down the sides of her ribs, barely brushing the underside of her breasts.

Stop mocking me.  She playfully swatted on his powerfully muscular chest then ran her hand down his perfect stomach.  His torso was hard as granite and she bit her bottom lip to stop from moaning as she reached her hand lower, taking a firm grasp of his cock.  Also granite hard.

He growled against her throat as he involuntarily thrust up into her hand.  Only she could ring such intense reactions out of him so easily.  You’re not playing fair, love.  But two can play that game, he warned.  Then he bit down on her tender flesh where her neck and shoulder met with just the right amount of teeth and pressure.  Just enough pleasure and pain that he knew would make her squirm with need even more.  He knew all of her erogenous zones intimately and planned to draw them out.

Tonight, he would explore, savor and commit to memory every part of her, every sound, sigh, cry or pant that emitted from her lips, the way she moved above and beneath him, how she felt as her silky core surrounded him, the feel of her hands and lips on his eager body, the look of rapture on her face as she came apart in his arms.  He wanted everything emblazoned in his mind so that he might recall it on the long lonely nights ahead of him.

He gave her what she wanted, entering her core in maddeningly measured increments.  He made love to her languidly, tenderly, passionately.  Long lingering kisses, slow deliberate strokes inside of her, building her desire unhurriedly to a fever pitch that caused her to beg for relief.  When she could finally take no more, he plunged harder, faster, and rose himself above her to view her beautiful face as she reached her peak, crying out his name.  The feel of her inner muscles contracting around him forced him to relinquish his own control.  He joined her in his own release, filling her with his seed, his heart and his soul with a gut wrenching cry.

He immediately gathered her to him, holding on so tightly, his body refused to let her go.  It was too hard and he was too emotionally raw, but he knew he had no choice, so he quickly pulled himself together and fixed a false smile on his face.  Fortunately, she still floated in her bliss and his blunder hadn’t given him away.

They laughed, talked and made love several more times before dawn.  As Rebecca drifted off to sleep wrapped tightly in his arms, she murmured, Thank you, Ben.  It was a wonderful, unforgettable night.  You know I love you, right?  Her long tawny eyelashes fluttered slowly down to rest on her cheeks.

Yes, Rebecca.  I know.  I love you, too, and I shall never forget, he answered her though he doubted she was cognizant enough to hear it.

He would hold her while she slept this one last time, as he began the agonizing task of making her forget...

*****

At least she wouldn’t suffer.  He took solace in that.  She’d never recall the times he held her in his arms.  Kissing her sweet lips until they were swollen with desire.  Molding her supple curves perfectly into his hard yearning body.  Bringing her to completion again and again as she cried out his name.  A cry that would haunt him for eternity.

The godsdamn eternity he had to face...alone...without her.

No, there was no going back.  Even if he could.  Why had he finally found love as he’d never known before just to have it viciously wrenched away?  Fate had played a cruel, cruel joke on this poor excuse of a man.  But he wasn’t just a man any longer.  Hadn’t been for well over one hundred years.  He’d bravely died a man on that World War I battlefield in 1918, protecting all that he loved and treasured at the time.  Then they had saved him.  Gave him a choice to go on.  To fight for all mankind and not just those that he cared for in his small portion of the world.  They offered him life...immortal life...and brought him over, training and turning him into a Warrior.

Would he still make that same choice today?  Knowing all that he would lose and all that he would yet have to endure?  Every fiery nerve, strained tendon and cramping, clenching muscle in his body, especially his traitorous heart, screamed No!  But his soul admitted defeat.  Yes, yes...always yes.  Odin informed him that there was no shame in rejecting the offer, no shame in choosing to take his well-earned rest in the eternity hereafter.  He had already proven his exceptional bravery and honor and those qualities made him a candidate for serving humanity as a Freyodin Warrior.

Realization dawned as he stared blindly at the ground with no care as to where his footfalls were taking him.  Fate had not determined the course of what was to be his long life.  He himself had and he knew he couldn’t blame fate or anyone else for his own mistakes.  No, she wasn’t a mistake.  Never that.  He had chosen to break the rules and fall in love with a mortal.  Not intentionally, of course, but it had happened none the less.  And he would have to bear the consequences...alone.  And already he missed her, like the lost feeling of a phantom limb.

Hey, there you are, man.  The deep Southern Mississippi drawl brought him out of the depth of his momentary sorrows.

Vex’s head whipped up to meet the aqua blue gaze of his fellow Warrior leaning against his car at the curb, but he said nothing.  Justice had been his closet friend for more than twenty-five years now and wouldn’t expect a reply after seeing the sorry state he was sure he reflected.  At six foot four, Vex’s frame should have stood proudly two full inches over his friend’s, but in his current solemnly stature, he was anything but.

I thought I might find you here, he continued as he uncrossed his arms from his broad chest and pushed himself away from his resting spot.  Thought you might need a ride after...uh...  His voice slowed and trailed away without finishing the thought as he looked first downward and then off into the distance.  Anywhere but Vex’s tormented eyes.

Thanks, he mumbled raking his fingers over his scalp through his long flaxen hair.  It was a nervous habit and an instant tell that all wasn’t right in Vex’s little world.  A habit he could never break himself of whenever he was preoccupied or stressed that left the shorter hair surrounding his face standing up on end in a spiked, bedhead fashion.

Without another word, Justice skirted around the front of the car and sat down in the driver’s seat, placing his hand on the key in the ignition.  Vex follow suit and took his place in the passenger’s seat, not bothering to buckle up.  There wasn’t much that could end his miserable existence, but a beheading through a car windshield would certainly do the trick well enough.

Justice stared straight ahead at the row of houses that banked either side of the street, a hardness claiming his jaw as he clamped his teeth tightly together trying to bite back the words.  Are you okay?

Vex’s gaze matched the direction of his friend’s, but the fog centered in his mind left him blindly staring at nothing but a white haze.  I guess.  I mean, I don’t have a choice, do I?  I didn’t have a choice in any of this.

Together, Justice and Vex were known as the World War Buddies, as Justice had been brought over during World War II.  They seemed to be naturally drawn to each other and had become and remained fast friends since that time.  Justice wanted to reassure his friend, to be there to help alleviate his pain in some way.  He wasn’t quite sure how he would do that, as he’d never really felt that strongly for a female, but for his friend, he wanted to try.

No, I don’t believe you did.  We don’t have much choice who we fall in love with, I suppose.  He paused and silence followed like a heavy weight within the confines of the vehicle.  For what it’s worth, I’m sorry...and I’m here for you, brother...

Through his peripheral vision, Justice watched Vex nod his head silently.

Where would you like to go now?  Oddly, his fingers were still wrapped around the key in the ignition as if frozen in time.

Anywhere.  Just drive, he managed.  As his sorrow turned to a simmering rage he hoped they’d run into the Huldrekall.  Beating a demon or two viciously to death sounded like something he needed right about now.

Justice turned the car’s engine over and slowly pulled away from the curb leaving behind Vex’s crushed heart and dreams of a love unfulfilled, tattered among the debris of dead fallen leaves on the street below.

*****

CHAPTER TWO

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Ten Years Later...

Yes, Rebecca.  I know.  I love you, too, and I shall never forget.

Wait!  No!  Don’t go.  Please.  Please, come back.

Becca Forrester’s own sobbing screams woke her as she shot suddenly upright in her bed, fighting amongst the twisted cotton sheets she found herself tangled within.  Her heart beat erratically against her aching chest, pulse racing as if she’d just completed a marathon, sweat running in rivulets down her brow and between her breasts and the remnants of salty tears at the corners of her mouth.  She stared sightlessly at the outstretched arm in front of her, the hand reaching for some unseen thing that her mind just could not grasp.  Whatever it was, it was just out of reach, just beyond her ability to touch or visualize it, as though trapped behind a veil.  She screwed her eyes back half-shut, hoping she could still see a glimpse of it.  But it was gone.  Again.

Not it.  Him.  The man of her dreams that she could never fully remember.  She only knew that he was there one moment and then cruelly gone the next.  Every time.  It was the same thing every time.  That faceless man that made such wonderful love to her in her slumber.  So wonderful she never wanted to wake up.  But she always did and he always said the same thing before he disappeared.  Foggily fading out like some Hollywood movie magic illusion.

Yes, Rebecca.  I know.  I love you, too, and I shall never forget. 

It was always the last thing she could remember before gaining complete consciousness.

She snorted to herself with derision.  And it seems I’m destined never to remember, she ruefully thought.

She’d been haunted incessantly by these dreams again the past few nights.  Years ago, they’d plague her regularly, but the passing of time had lessened them to only the occasional occurrence.  Why now?  Why was the dream coming back to haunt her?

Could it possibly be the stress at work?  She had been notified by her associate at the university that he would be taking an immediate unexpected sabbatical.  Seems he’d gone and met the love of his life and had gotten himself married.  Poof!  Just like that.  He would need her to step in for him for a while and run the department by herself for a short time.  But he hadn’t been working from his university office much of late anyway, always on the other side of the world at his dig site.  That couldn’t be the cause of her stress.  Though her field of work was with languages, she’d worked closely with Dr. Janson and his dusty, dirty relics for quite some time now.  With her years of school, her internships and her mentor’s personal training, she’d had no trouble with his current absence and didn’t see any in the future.  She could take whatever they could dish out.  Of that she was confident.

As much as she didn’t want to wake while dreaming, she didn’t want to be dragged back into that fantasy world again either.  She fought long and hard to retain her sanity and stop the dream from torturing her nightly once before.  She never wanted to feel that out-of-control of her life ever again.

It had taken long hours of therapy, with no definitive conclusion as to why it happened in the first place, to rid her of the nightly terrors that woke her grieving a loss she’d never truly endured.  She’d never once been in love so how could she know such a thing in her dreams?  Without the help of her therapist, she surmised that she’d spent way too many hours watching romantic movies and reading those damned romantic novels.  She’d even grown up on Disney princess movies, for God’s sake.  From a very young age, before ‘mystery man’ made an appearance in her dreams, she’d fantasized as little girls often do.  She loved them all so much; the movies, the books - but then had to give them up in favor of sanity.  It was all fantasy, after all and she wasn’t a little girl anymore.

She certainly had no close relationships in her life to make her think otherwise and believe in the ‘true love’ or ‘soul mate’ theory.  Not even her parents, although still together, had such a fantastical, blissful life.  Not one single connection that would make her yearn for something she’d had or witnessed.  Not one taste of a life that would make her hunger for one just like it, one that she wanted to emulate as her own.

The funny thing was she didn’t just yearn for it, like something she wanted but would never have.  Sometimes, she actually felt like she missed it.  How funny was that?  Not funny ‘ha ha’, but funny ‘strange’.

Still...it felt so real.

She couldn’t keep a steady relationship for an extended period of time.  The men in her life were nice, but they never measured up.  Not to him.  She could never recall his face. Just the way he touched her with such passion and expertise as if he knew every inch of her body intimately.

As well he should, since he’s been screwing me repeatedly in my dreams for hundreds of nights.  She laughed bitterly to herself as the thoughts of him touching her caused desire to spread through her body.  Oh God, I’m losing my mind.  Occasional fantasy was healthy.  Fixating was not.  Desire quickly turned to loss and loneliness.

Deciding to mentally shake off the dreaded feelings, she untangled herself from the contorted sheets and swung her legs off the side of the bed.  She glanced at the clock on the bedside table, groaned out loud at the time it reflected and forced herself off the bed and into her bathroom to start her day.

Already twenty minutes behind schedule.  Dammit, she grumbly swore to no one else in the room.  Shit.  No fault but my own.  Best get on with it then.

She went into her adjoining bathroom, quickly showered, dressed and applied minimal makeup, except around her darkened eyes.  They needed a little extra attention this morning due to her nightly unwelcomed visitor.

Unwelcomed?  Well, that was the question, wasn’t it?

It’s not like he left her sexually frustrated.  Not truly.  No, he more than met her needs in that category.  At least in her dreams.  That was the part that made her not want to wake up.  He even met her psychological needs, to a point.  He never left her wanting – physically or emotionally.  That was until he actually left and she woke up alone, yearning.  A yearning she swore she could feel to her very soul.  She had to stop dwelling on this though.  It wasn’t doing her any good and she knew dwelling on it wouldn’t ever do any good.  It hadn’t helped even once in the past and she didn’t relish the thought of spending her life in therapy.

Shaking it off once more, she took a few calming meditative breathes in and out, pasted an acceptable smile on her face and opened the front door of her quaint Victorian styled home.  Off to face another day at the university.  Ready or not.

*****

You’ve been selected for a special assignment.

Thunder’s instructions reverberated in Vex’s head.  Yea sure, right.  No way did he believe there was anything special about this assignment other than the timing of sending him away.  They wanted his sulking ass out of their hair.  That’s what his leader had really meant.  Although, Thunder had seemed sincere and even somewhat compassionate in his understanding of Vex’s feelings.  But he should be.  After all, Thunder, or Thor, the God of Thunder and son of Odin himself, was the one to give him the directive ten years prior that catapulted his life into a sinking spiral of pain he couldn’t seem to drag himself out of.  He’d searched high, low and everywhere in between for a lifeline, but none could be found.  In the end, he’d had to settle for a godsdamn life preserver that left him floating in his river of self-pity.

Okay, maybe he was overreacting a little.  Yes, life had been hard – so hard at times– and lonely, but he still had his friends, and they were very good friends.  His Warrior brothers and sisters were his family now.  It was an honor to be chosen to serve humanity as a Freyodin Warrior and he certainly wasn’t ungrateful.  In fact, completely the opposite.  But he still had a hole the size of the Grand Canyon where his heart used to be.

He realized that he needed to speak with his Warrior sister, Danielle, and apologize.  Not so much for what he’d said, but for what he didn’t say...or do.  He had to remove himself from the festivities in celebrating her chain bonding to that mortal, Aaron Janson, and he did so rather discourteously by leaving in the middle of her ceremony.  He hadn’t meant to be rude, but the overwhelming feeling of his chest being crushed by an unfathomable weight drove him away.  He recalled the feeling as he watched the happy couple being blessed by Freya at the sacred altar.  How he couldn’t breathe and, at the same time, how every muscle and bone in his body wanted to stand up and scream No! at the injustice and jealousy that consumed him.

Mating with a mortal was a rare, almost unheard of even.  Mortals weren’t allowed in their world of Warriors and demons unless they served a purpose.  Apparently, Aaron Janson did.

If only she had..., he mused.  Life would have been so different.

But there was no time to dwell on the past now.  Maybe Thunder was doing him a favor by sending him away.  He wouldn’t have to sit around watching the happy couple and torture himself further.  Yea, maybe there was something good in this new assignment after all.

He’d given some thought as to who he wanted to accompany him on this mission.  He’d been instructed to choose a female, someone that could blend into the office atmosphere of the university.  Obviously he couldn’t.  He wasn’t bad on the eyes as far as looks went and he could get just about anything he wanted with his sexy baby face, blue/green eyes and turned-up charm.  A flash of his irresistible smile was usually all it took. He also looked really good in a suit, in his opinion, but his larger Warrior frame of six foot four might be a little intimidating.  Not to mention he refused to cut his