Nine Tails 6: Spirit Shift

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Nine Tails 6: Spirit Shift Page 12

by J. L. Weil


  KARINA

  Sunlight peeped through the curtain of branches and vines, drawing me out of sleep, but it wasn’t the few rays of bright light that had woken me. Nor was it the solid and bumpy surface I slept on because half of my body was draped over Devyn’s.

  The fox within me purred and prodded at me. She wanted something from me, wanted me to do something, but I didn’t know what. My eyes fluttered open to see that both Kai and Devyn were still asleep.

  My gaze drifted to the Shaman as if a magnet was pulling me closer and closer still. Every fiber in my body tugged at me to claim him. I wasn’t even sure what that entailed: to claim him. But it seemed that my fae side knew what to do. It was as if an outside force was urging me forward, murmuring in my ear. Perhaps it was my Kitsune—that fae part of me born from instinct. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t raised in this world, I felt precisely what to do in my core.

  The canines in my mouth lengthened, and I leaned close to Devyn, tracing the points of my teeth over the exposed skin on his neck. He had his head turned to the side, facing away from me, which allowed me perfect access to his throat. The next thing I knew, the zing of his blood was filling my mouth, warm and succulent.

  Wildness soared through me.

  Holy shit. I bit him. I just bit Devyn like an animal.

  Chapter Fifteen

  KARINA

  I gaped at the two little marks on Devyn’s neck—proof that I hadn’t dreamed sinking my Kitsune canines into his flesh. I licked my lips, tasting his blood, but it went deeper than just blood. I didn’t know how to explain what I was feeling, but it was as if I’d taken a piece of him, of what made him fae, and it now flowed inside me like a bridge between our souls. Perhaps this was what Devyn had always felt and I was just catching on, finally aware of the link between us. It awoke within me like one of my powers.

  But it didn’t explain what my bite meant. Devyn had never bitten me.

  What was happening to me?

  Why had I bitten him?

  Devyn suddenly jolted awake, looking ridiculously rumpled from sleep. If I wasn’t already craving him, that look would have done me in. “Karina?” His voice was raspy and sexy as he sat up, his hair as black as a starless night. The brightness in his eyes glowed as he blinked at me.

  A power so fierce and consuming that could only be born of love and lust barreled into me. “Devyn,” I whispered. My fingers roamed over his face, along his jaw, and over his bottom lip where my eyes stopped. Heat engulfed me from my head to my toes as if I’d walked straight into the center of the sun. I wanted those lips on mine. I had to kiss him or go up in flames.

  This sudden need for him, this ravenous hunger that had caused me to taste the essence of his fae life had come from deep within me. The choice was out of my control. It didn’t matter that Ryker was out there searching for us. It didn’t matter that Kai slept only feet away. It didn’t matter that fae laws prevented us from being together. Nothing mattered. Nothing but Devyn.

  I climbed into his lap, aware of every heartbeat, every breath between us. He went still underneath me, studying my face as if he half thought he was still dreaming. Perhaps we both were.

  Leaning forward, I pressed my lips to his and kissed him. It was everything. I melted into his body, linking my hands behind his neck. “I love you,” I said against his mouth. A tremor went through him at the words, and I kissed him again.

  It was soft and edged with an air of desperation. I was drowning in it, sinking farther and farther into him, craving more and more. I opened my mouth for him, and he answered. His tongue brushed against mine in lazy strokes as if we had all the time in the world. And I wish we did.

  A primal lust darkened his eyes. I nipped at his bottom lip, and he hardened against me, a groan slipping from him.

  Hearing the sound drove me to action. “I need you,” I moaned, my mouth reclaiming his again. I didn’t know where this desire had emerged from. Perhaps the time spent apart or the taste of his blood had created it, but I had to claim him; I needed to be his and he mine. My soul demanded it.

  My legs hooked around his waist, drawing him closer as his hand snuck under my shirt. I tore my lips from his, letting my head fall back at the feeling of his skin touching mine. It was pure heavenly bliss. His hand came up to cup my breast, and I arched into him, feeling the world around me spinning.

  His head lowered, taking the bead of my nipple into his mouth through my shirt, and I ground my hips against him, teasing, but it only inflamed my desire for him.

  Sweet Jesus.

  We were both breathing hard as I fumbled with the button on his pants. This was happening now. Nothing was going to get in our way.

  I dragged my lips along his jaw and down his neck, where my tongue darted out over the two marks left by my canines. My hands glided under his shirt, savoring his muscles as they rolled and shifted under my fingers.

  The urge to bite him again, to taste the richness of his blood on my tongue rose from some primal part inside me. A purr vibrated at the back of my throat, and I pressed my teeth to the spot, anticipation building in my veins.

  His fingers plunged into my hair, and he pulled my head back to look into my face. His eyes were bright, brighter than I’d ever seen them, and there was something in his expression that made my pulse race. Did he feel what I did? That magnetic pull? He had me enthralled in a spell that left me utterly consumed by him. I didn’t understand what was happening, but I was powerless to stop myself from reaching for him.

  “Karina,” Devyn murmured my name, but not in his usual chaste manner. The passion I heard took me by surprise for a heartbeat before I realized it was a mirror of what I was feeling. “What have you done?” he whispered.

  I nuzzled the side of my face into his hand and stared into his eyes, seeing a tangle of emotions. Love. Desire. Regret. Sorrow.

  I was intoxicated, my heart pounding wildly in my chest. I was tired of him pushing me away, and it didn’t matter to me what realm we were in. My need for Devyn hadn’t diminished in the least. “I need you. I need to know this is real—that you’re real.” I skimmed my lips along his jaw. “Please, Devyn.” I could smell the sweat on him and the sea, and it was the best scent in the world.

  Our lips met, and he shuddered, immersed by the same magic I was.

  The bond between us was unending. It went beyond our physical bodies, beyond this world.

  His blood had tasted like fine wine or decadent chocolate, smooth and rich. An ancient connection purred inside me. Mine. Mine. Mine, the Kitsune inside me crooned.

  I felt him against me. That soft, aching part of me was ready. My body arched into his. “Now. I need you now,” I whimpered. My eyes dropped to his lips.

  I wanted to forge our souls, our spirits, together.

  Where had that thought come from? Once it was in my head, I couldn’t let it go because it was true. My spirit was glowing within me, a bright light that shone only for Devyn.

  He lifted my wrist, grazing the vein that pulsed there with his teeth. I shivered. Yes, my mind pleaded. Yes. Yes. Yes. I pressed my wrist against his lips, silently asking for the unknown, the essential. My eyes fluttered shut at the slight pressure, and my blood rushed to the surface with vivid eagerness.

  “Well, this is an interesting sight to wake up to.” A husky voice that wasn’t Devyn’s interrupted the most intense moment of my life.

  I was going to kill him.

  My canines flashed, dropping down in my mouth. “Get lost,” I snarled at Kai. The protectiveness rumbling from my chest startled me.

  What was happening to me? Why was I acting so territorial and insane?

  Kai’s grin was positively wicked. “Are you sure you don’t want an extra pair of hands or lips?”

  The normal me would have been embarrassed being caught in a lewd position, straddling Devyn, but the lust-induced me had no shame. I was about to light Kai’s crotch on fire when Devyn spoke.

  “Kai,” he said. The single word bor
e a load of hostility. “Disappear. You’re good at that.”

  Kai sat up, looking like he didn’t just spend the night in a cave. “Sorry, can’t do that, bro. I appear to be the only one who is thinking straight.”

  Devyn’s body shifted underneath me. Gone were the languid muscles, replaced by hard stone. “Is that what you told yourself when you pretended to be me?”

  I gasped, sliding off his lap. “How do you know about that?”

  Devyn shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “You can be pissed at me all you want. What I offered her—what I still am offering—saves your life. You damn well know what happens if you claim her. It will be your death sentence. You must resist it. For both your sakes.”

  What was Kai talking about?

  Resist what?

  Me?

  Because of who I was? I’d heard before that we shouldn’t be together, but this time, there seemed to be something more, something neither Devyn nor Kai was saying.

  Devyn was on his feet, dragging Kai to his. “Why? So you can have her?” He shoved Kai in the chest, knocking him back a few feet. In the cave, there wasn’t much room for the brawl that was brewing, not to mention the attention it might bring.

  “I’m not saying you can’t have her, brother, only that you must wait until after she is crowned and she has the power to save your sorry ass from execution.”

  Like striking a match, the comment sent Devyn’s fist into Kai’s jaw.

  “Devyn!” I cried in surprise, standing up to throw myself in front of Devyn before he went at Kai again.

  “What? He deserved it. And so much more,” he seethed, his lips tight.

  Kai sneered, rubbing at the lower side of his face. Blood trickled from his lip where Devyn’s knuckles had grazed it. “Look at you, already acting like she’s yours.”

  “She is,” Devyn said, standing his ground.

  My heart did a series of cartwheels.

  “She’s my …” He stopped himself from finishing whatever he’d been about to say.

  “Mate?” Kai supplied, his brows raising.

  Mate.

  The word echoed in the air.

  Was he implying that Devyn was my mate?

  Faes had mates? Devyn had never mentioned that. But even as I questioned the logistics, my soul was humming with the truth of it. Devyn was mine. My head whipped toward Kai. “What are you talking about?”

  “That thing you did there, biting him …” Kai inclined his head toward Devyn’s neck. “Those are claiming marks.”

  “So you're saying because I bit him that makes him my mate? That seems so … foolproof. I could have bitten anyone. Hell, I could have bitten you.”

  Devyn didn’t particularly like that statement.

  Kai’s smiled, considering my words. “An intriguing notion, but sadly, it wouldn’t have had the same outcome. There is more to claiming your mate than a bite.”

  I faced Devyn. “Is it true? Am I your mate?”

  His eyes never strayed from mine. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to tell you.”

  “Devyn,” Kai hissed again in warning. “She has your blood. Don’t do this.”

  Why did that matter? Regardless of the reasoning, it appeared to be a big deal, for the caution in Kai’s eyes was very real.

  Devyn stiffened, and he closed his eyes, looking like he was in physical pain as he rubbed his temples. “I want her more than I’ve ever wanted anything. You think she will be the only one to suffer?”

  Kai kept his focus on Devyn, dabbing at his lip. The bleeding had lessened. “If you love her, then you won’t complete the claiming oath. You can’t do this. It will be your death.”

  Death. I would be his death. Devyn had been alluding to that for months. I just didn’t want it to be true.

  No. I couldn’t accept that.

  I loved him. I would never hurt him. Never. But it really wasn’t me that would cause his death. It was the fae and their stupid rules. Kai knew it too.

  My throat tightened, my eyes burning. “You knew I was your mate?”

  The hardness around his eyes softened. “I suspected.”

  “This whole time? And you never said anything?”

  Sadness hit me in the gut. Not mine, but his. It was swimming in his eyes, an echo of what I felt inside me. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “It matters to me. And the fact that I had to find out from your brother …” It didn’t sit well in my stomach.

  “There are things you don’t know,” he replied, sounding remorseful.

  My arms crossed over my chest as a chill snaked down my arms from the loss of his warmth. “So you keep reminding me.”

  “She’s already started the mating bond,” Kai said, shadows clinging to his back. His strength had returned, but I couldn’t think about that. Not when every fiber in my body pulsed with Devyn.

  Shit.

  What did that mean?

  DEVYN

  I raked a hand through my hair, fighting every instinct inside me. It would be so easy to lean forward and take what was mine. I could get lost in those starling blue eyes and the wild invitation that was still there under the surface calling to me. “You don’t think I know that?”

  This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not here. Not now. Not with Kai breathing down our necks. Talk about a romance killer. Nothing about this was worthy of candles or soft music. It was a mess, and I didn’t know how to fix it.

  That was the worst part.

  Kai’s face was somber for once. “Then you know what you must do.”

  Karina’s head swung back and forth between us as she jumped to conclusions. She might not fully understand our ways, but she knew enough to piece together what Kai was suggesting. The thought alone left a gaping hole where my heart had been moments ago.

  I didn’t know if I had it in me to stop what Karina had begun.

  Did I have the willpower?

  Looking at her, I was only sure of one thing: how much I loved her.

  And if she asked me to, I would give her anything, even this, despite what it might mean for our future and that of the Second Moon, but it would be a selfish move.

  “Don’t do this, Devyn. Don’t take this away from me,” she pleaded, and the raw emotion in her voice cut right through me. She might as well have plunged a knife into my heart. It still probably wouldn’t have been as painful as this choice.

  For a heartbeat, all I could do was stare at her. “I can’t give you what you want. Not now.”

  He swollen lips quivered, and panic leapt into her gaze. “Then I’ll wait.”

  The pressure in my chest clamped around my heart. “You don’t understand what it will mean for you to be my mate but not have me return the vow. What you are asking is for it to be one-sided. It won’t be easy … for either of us.”

  She stood straighter, her shoulders squared. “I can handle it.”

  Gods, she was so stubborn. “I won’t ask that of you. Until you are queen, it is impossible for us to be together. We knew this. It was foolish and selfish of me to let you have feelings for me. I won’t be able to resist completing the oath that would bind us together in more than flesh and heart. Fae mates love longer and deeper than mortals. Seeing you every day, knowing you can feel what I feel for you, it will torment us both.”

  “Oath or no oath, Devyn, I am already tormented by not being able to act upon how I feel for you. What is the difference?”

  “I won’t let you.”

  “Let me!” Her face grew red as she prepared to let me have it. “You don’t have any control over my feelings. No matter what you might have said or done, I probably still would have fallen in love with you. And you sure as hell don’t have the right to take these feelings from me. I won’t force you to complete this claiming oath, but I also refuse to let you take it from me.”

  I blinked, stunned by her speech. My heart warmed, and the thread tying our souls together gave a yank, pulling me toward her.

  “De
vyn,” Kai warned.

  He was starting to become a real pain in the ass. Then I heard the footsteps above us. Someone was on the cliffs, and they were coming this way.

  Kai and I whirled toward the mouth of the cave at the same time. Every inch of me prepared to strike whoever walked in. I’d welcome a fight right about now. In fact, I was craving one.

  The vines pulled back, and none other than Reilly, the dragon heir, stepped through.

  Kai’s shoulders relaxed. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  It was no secret Kai wasn’t a fan of Reilly. There seemed to be a lot of hostility going around amongst the fae males in Karina’s life. “You need to go now,” Reilly said. “There’s a boat—”

  “How did you know where we were?” Kai interrupted, not seeming very interested in hearing anything about a boat.

  “That doesn’t matter. Did you hear me? If you want to get away, you need to go now. Ryker’s sentinels are already on their way. They are combing the cliffs, and if I found you, it's only a matter of time before they do.”

  Kai and I exchanged a glance.

  “How did you find us?” I pressed. My fae instincts roared with suspicion. Reilly had once been someone I called a friend, but when it came to matters of the court, no one was trustworthy.

  “For fuck’s sake, is anyone listening to me?” Reilly tried to make eye contact with each of us, pleading for someone to take him seriously.

  Karina laid a hand on my shoulder. “They’re coming,” she whispered.

  Reilly threw his hands in the air. “Finally. Just take the goddamn boat and go.”

  I glared at him. “This doesn’t make us good.”

  Reilly’s lips twitched. “I never thought it would.” He clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Keep her safe.”

 

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