Shadows of Fire (The Shadow Realms, Book 1)

by Brenda K. Davies

  But staring at her, he didn’t care about those lives, the war, or how insane the Lord was; he preferred to stay with his mate. But he did care about his brothers and father, and if they didn’t stop the Lord, her life was in jeopardy too.

  Nowhere was safe from the Lord and his horde of dragons.

  Cole stepped away from the window and crossed the room to her. She’d fallen asleep in a baggy T-shirt that somehow managed to hide her lush curves but still made her look sexy as hell.

  He could drag her into the Gloaming; she’d fight him every step of the way and probably end up hating him, but it was better than leaving her here where he couldn’t protect her.

  “What about Malakai?” he asked.

  “What about him?”

  “What if he comes back while I’m gone.”

  She gave him a sad smile as he stopped beside the bed. “It won’t be the first time I’ve had to deal with him, and it won’t be the last.”

  That may be true, but he hated the idea of leaving her here. “Come with me.”

  “I can’t.”

  Cole wasn’t used to anyone telling him no, but he especially wasn’t used to the women he was sleeping with saying it. She had no reason to fear becoming shadow kissed.

  “What if I insist that you come with me?” he asked.

  “Don’t,” she said simply.

  “Don’t?”

  “Yes, don’t. Because I won’t go, and you won’t become a tyrant like the Lord or Malakai.”

  He almost recoiled at her words but managed to stop himself. No, he wouldn’t be like either of them, but the idea of leaving her here….

  He looked to the trash can and the note again. He couldn’t stay, and she wouldn’t leave. He could make her go, but that would destroy the trust between them. A large part of him did not care, but the smaller part wanted to keep his mate happy.

  And if he forced her into the Gloaming, she would not be happy. But what does her happiness matter if she isn’t safe?

  Cole rubbed at his temple. He hadn’t expected to find his mate, but once he did, he’d assumed it would be easy. He hadn’t expected her to be stubborn and set in her ways.

  But he wouldn’t have Lexi any other way. Lowering his hands, he met her quizzical look. “I’ll return as soon as I can,” he said.

  He could return to the Gloaming and be back in a day. She would be okay for a day, and after what happened last time, he doubted Malakai would return any time soon.

  Bending, he rested his hands on her hips and plucked her from the bed. She gasped but didn’t protest when he slid onto the bed beneath her and settled her so she straddled his lap. She draped her arms over his shoulders.

  CHAPTER 52

  Lexi didn’t know how to respond to the fact he was leaving or that he wanted her to go with him.

  She’d known this day would come, but she still wasn’t ready for it. And as much as she yearned to, she couldn’t go with him. She had far too many responsibilities here and a certain dark fae to remove from beneath her manor.

  Maybe if Orin wasn’t lounging in her tunnels, she would have asked the handyman to help in the stables like he did when they traveled to the Gloaming. But she couldn’t do that now.

  But he was asking her to go with him! What did that mean? Why would he want such a thing? Didn’t dark fae usually forget all about their past partners when someone new popped up?

  That’s what she’d always heard, and while there was no one new yet, there would be once he left the manor. There would be countless new then.

  If she was with him, would he stay away from those women?

  She shut the possibility down. It didn’t matter; she couldn’t go, so traversing down that path wouldn’t do her any good. Pondering it for too long would only make her crazy, and she planned to enjoy what little time they had left together.

  If he returned, great. If he didn’t, well then, she would move on. It would hurt, but she would get over it.

  When he lifted her and slid naked into bed, the image of the flames from yesterday tried to push their way back into her mind, but she shoved them aside. He was leaving, and no matter what he said, she might never see him again.

  Gripping her hips, he guided her along his erection. She shuddered at the sensation of him slipping between her legs. The head of his shaft teased her clit as the brilliant blue of his eyes shifted to silver.

  His hungry gaze excited her almost as much as the hands pushing her shirt up. He lifted it and pulled it off before tossing it aside. His eyes latched ravenously on her breasts as a small smile curved his lips.

  “You’re gorgeous,” he murmured as he gazed at her.

  He stroked her breast before teasing her nipple with his thumb. Then he lifted his hand to cup her cheek. He ran his thumb across her bottom lip before slipping it into her mouth to prod at one of her canines. Her fangs lengthened in response, and he smiled.

  “You haven’t fed from me,” he said.

  “I’ve never fed from anyone,” she said.

  A spark of something lit his eyes. “We are going to have to remedy that.”

  Her gaze fell to his neck as excitement twisted in her belly. Lexi wasn’t sure if she could do it without hurting him, but she was impatient to find out as she watched his blood pulse through the vein in his neck.

  “Have you fed from me?” she asked as she played with the hair at his nape.

  “No, but I’m going to,” he murmured as he ran his thumb across her lip again before pulling it down a little.

  “Will I know when you do?”

  “Yes.”

  “Will it hurt?”

  “No. Many say it enhances the pleasure.”

  “Impossible.”

  He chuckled as he cupped her nape and pulled her close for a kiss.

  “Will I hurt you if I feed on you?” she asked when the kiss ended.

  “No. And even if you did, I want it too much to care.”

  Releasing her, he planted his hands behind him and leaned back on the bed. She frowned as he smiled at her.

  “This is all you, beautiful,” he said.

  “I… I don’t understand.”

  “Explore, learn, discover what pleases you. I’m merely here to make sure you come.”

  She wasn’t entirely sure what he meant by that, but his words made her wetter as she slid along the length of him before shifting so the head of his shaft teased her entrance.

  However, no matter how much she wanted him inside her, she enjoyed this far too much to end it now. She moved, shifted, teased, and played with him as she ran her hands over his chest and down his stomach.

  She traced the dips and hollows of his chiseled abdomen before shifting to explore his cock. His breath quickened when she ran her fingers over it before stroking it.

  She thrilled at her power over him as his breathing changed, his erection pulsed in her grip, and his body tensed. However, he didn’t move as he continued to let her learn more about him, herself, and what they both liked.

  When she finally took him inside her, Lexi was so aroused, she came almost instantly, but as she floated down from her high, he still didn’t touch her.

  “Keep going,” he grated.

  He said the words, but she saw the strain on his face as sweat beaded his forehead. Lexi leaned forward until her breasts rubbed against his chest.

  She lifted her hips until he was nearly out of her again before sliding slowly back down. His head fell back as she ran her tongue across his chest.

  She tasted sweat and man as his fingers entangled in her sheets and the corded muscles of his arms stood starkly out, but he still didn’t touch her. She ran her tongue back up his chest, across his collarbone, and up to his neck before nipping at it.

  “You better feed soon, love,” he said. “I don’t know how much longer I can take this.”

  He didn’t need to encourage her anymore. With a hammering heart, she kissed his neck again before resting her mouth over the solid thump of his puls
e. Her concern over harming him caused her to hesitate.

  “Do it,” he commanded.

  And she found herself helpless to do anything but obey. Her lips skimmed back, and she sank her fangs into his throat. She cried out against his flesh as the hot wave of his blood pulsed into her mouth.

  She’d never tasted anything so delicious as it slid down her throat and the power of it seeped into her veins. Out of her mind with desire, she tried to draw him closer. Sensing her frustration, his arms locked around her, and he pulled her flush against his chest.

  Lexi wasn’t convinced she would feel it when he fed, but then his power seeped out until it crackled the air around them. Beneath her hands, his muscles swelled and vibrated.

  At first, she didn’t understand what was happening, and then she realized he was growing stronger as he fed on the energy their joining emitted. The crackling in the air increased until it vibrated against her skin.

  Oh yes, she could see why some believed it enhanced the pleasure as her skin came alive, the hair on her arms rose, and she craved more.

  CHAPTER 53

  Cole drank in the power she emanated. In all of his many years, he’d never experienced a rush like the one she gave him, but he’d also never fed on his mate before—his mate.

  He’d yet to claim her as a lycan would, but he was leaving his mark as only a dark fae could. She would remember him while he was gone, and she would be eagerly awaiting his return.

  The dark fae didn’t have fated lovers like the lycan, but the fact she was his mate caused her to satisfy him in a way no other had before. As her sexual pleasure heightened, he drank in more and more of it until the air swirled and pulsed around them.

  When her back bowed beneath his hands, her fangs retracted, and her head fell back as she cried out. The tightness of her sheath clenching around his dick tore his release from him.

  Even as he was coming, he almost sank his fangs into her shoulder, pushed her back on the bed, and fucked her until she begged him to stop. He almost staked his lycan claim on her, but to do so would be to use her in a way no woman who lost her virginity only two nights ago should be used.

  He would scare her, and he would claim her before he ever got the chance to tell her what she was to him.

  Trembling, clinging to her, and trying to control the rampaging lycan demanding to be satisfied as much as the dark fae, he buried his face in her breasts and shuddered as his softening erection hardened again.

  He could often go for hours and days at a time when the dark fae part of him was in one of its more demanding feeding periods, but no one had so easily aroused him as this woman.

  Despite that, he reluctantly withdrew from her. She was immortal, she healed fast, her body adapted and changed swiftly to new situations, but she was still so new to this, and if he didn’t stop, he would claim her.

  And since he wasn’t about to tell her that she was his mate before returning to the Gloaming, he had to stop. He wasn’t about to drop that news on her. It meant he’d have to claim her or deal with her rejection before leaving.

  She collapsed against him and shivered as he ran his hands over her silken skin. He didn’t want to part from her, but if he stayed much longer, he would start all over again, and he would never leave today.

  Unfortunately, that couldn’t happen.

  He kissed her collarbone before tilting his head back to look up at her as she remained straddling his lap. “I’m coming back for you,” he vowed.

  Surprise flickered through her eyes before she smiled at him. “I’ll understand if you don’t. I know what the dark fae are.”

  “I’ve already told you that you don’t know what I am,” he growled. “I am coming back to you. I won’t be gone more than a day or two.”

  She nodded, but he saw the doubt in her eyes. He hated that doubt, but his return would put an end to it. She would learn he had no intention of ever leaving her life.

  “I’m going to leave a crow here; if anything happens, send a message to me. I’ll return immediately,” he said. “Let me know if Malakai returns.”

  He would prefer to send a dark fae to watch over her while he was in the Gloaming, but he couldn’t have anyone else knowing about her yet. Eventually, word would get out that he’d mated—if she allowed him to do it—but until then, the best thing he could do to protect her was to keep her off the radar of his enemies.

  Sending a guard to watch over would put an end to that. Word would rapidly spread amongst the immortals that he’d taken a special interest in someone.

  “I mean it, Lexi,” he said as he squeezed her ass. “If you need me for anything, or if Malakai steps foot on this property again, then send that crow.”

  “I will,” she promised.

  He wanted to do so much more for her, but it was the best he could do for now.

  CHAPTER 54

  Lexi blinked back the tears burning her eyes as she watched Cole and Brokk leave later that morning. In the tree above her head, the crow Cole left behind cawed loudly and ruffled its feathers but didn’t take flight.

  Cole assured her that even if this crow became surrounded by a murder of others, it would return to her the second she raised her arm. She was tempted to test this but decided against commanding the beautiful creature when it wasn’t necessary.

  When the brothers vanished from view, she turned away and trudged back to the manor. As she walked, she felt like the weight of the world was bearing down on her shoulders.

  He’d said he would return, and she wanted to believe him, but as she walked, she prepared herself never to see him again.

  He’s a dark fae; she reminded herself for the umpteenth time.

  But she had to keep doing it because she needed it to sink in, or she might end up with a shattered heart.

  If he never returned, it might take her years to recover from the blow, but she would recover if she were expecting it. But if she had her hopes up and he never returned, it would make things so much worse.

  He’s also lycan. That niggling thought refused to die no matter how many times she tried to kill it. Such an idea was dangerous as it would only lead to her getting her hopes up.

  The lycan could be the most loyal immortals when it came to their family and their mates, but she wasn’t family, and he’d never mentioned mates to her.

  Dark fae or not, his father loved his mother deeply.

  But there was no mention of love between us!

  She realized she was spiraling into a dark well of despair and hope that needed to end. She didn’t know why he was so adamant about returning to her, but she wouldn’t allow herself to believe it was for anything more than what they’d shared these past few days.

  He liked her; she didn’t doubt that. And she liked him, probably too much, but that didn’t mean it was anything more.

  He could quite possibly become completely distracted in the Gloaming and forget she existed.

  She refused to get her hopes up too much about his return, but she wasn’t going to turn into a moping, melancholy mess because he’d returned home… as she’d always known he would.

  Even if he never returned, she had a life to live and things to do. One of those things might still be in her tunnels and most likely seething because she hadn’t returned in days.

  Lexi slipped back into the manor and headed for the kitchen. She’d fed well on Cole this morning, but she hadn’t satisfied her human appetite yet.

  Sahira was standing at the stove, stirring a pot as she worked to replenish the rest of her healing salves now that Brokk was gone. Sitting beside her, Shade was working to clean his paw, which he lowered to study Lexi when she entered the room.

  “Have they left?” Sahira asked.

  Lexi opened and closed a couple of cabinets, but most were empty. Thankfully, their garden would start yielding some produce soon, and the goats would provide milk and cheese while the chickens produced eggs.

  They wouldn’t have as much now that the market was gone, but th
ey were better off than most, and they would get through this. If push came to shove, they could travel to another marketplace, but the closest one was now an hour away.

  She didn’t want to think about making that journey as she closed the cabinets and went to the fridge. She opened the refrigerator and removed a piece of cheese.

  “Yes,” she said as she took a knife from the drawer and sliced off a couple of pieces from the block.

  “What happened to your neck?”

  Lexi sighed. She’d dreaded this conversation and had hoped that Sahira wouldn’t notice or question her on it, but now that she had…

  “Cole,” Lexi admitted, and Sahira’s eyes darkened as her hand tightened on the knife. “It wasn’t on purpose!”

  Lexi told her what happened, and though she didn’t think Cole would like her revealing his nightmares to her aunt, she couldn’t hide them from Sahira. If her aunt didn’t know the whole truth, she would hate Cole, and Lexi couldn’t have that.

  When she finished, Sahira’s hand relaxed a little on the blade, but she still looked murderous.

  “He’s dangerous,” Sahira said.

  “Not to me.”

  “Your neck says differently.”

  “He’s not dangerous to me. This was an accident. It won’t happen again.”

  “If it does, I’ll castrate him.”

  Lexi gulped. “He doesn’t sleep when I’m there. He stays up the entire time instead because he wants me to stay with him.”

  Sahira’s brow furrowed, and her mouth pursed. “That’s… odd.”

  Lexi didn’t respond.

  “I still don’t like it,” Sahira said.

  “I know.”

  Her aunt sighed and set down her knife. “Here.” Sahira reached into her apron pocket and set a bottle of blue liquid on the counter near her.

  “What’s that?” Lexi asked around a mouthful of cheese.

  “Birth control. Use it.”

  Lexi almost choked on her cheese but managed to swallow it. “Sahira—”

  “Take a sip every night, and it will keep you from getting pregnant now and in the future.”