Olivia led the way to a bed, quickly changed the stained sheets and stepped aside to allow the elves access to it. They placed Tegan down onto it and Olivia drew up a chair. When she placed it beside Suki, Suki looked up at her.
The woman smiled. “I figure you’ll want to stay. I don’t recognise you, but I know him, and I’m guessing he needs you here more than he needs me. You’re his mate, aren’t you?”
She looked back at Tegan and nodded. “I can help.”
Before Olivia could ask how, Suki leaned over Tegan and pressed her lips to his. He didn’t respond, his mouth remaining slack against her, but then he didn’t need to. She funnelled some of the energy she had taken from the demon into him.
He groaned.
She pulled back and stroked his cheek as fear swept through her again, a wave that battered her strength and had more tears falling. “Don’t die. Dammit, Tegan, don’t you die on me.”
The corners of his lips twitched, and he opened his eyes with effort, locking them on her.
The pain must have made him crazy, because he was on the verge of slipping away from her and he was smiling at her.
“You said… my name,” he croaked and grimaced. “I thought…”
She seized his hand, clasping it tightly. “Whatever you thought, you thought wrong. I can’t lose you. I never knew you were a king, and while I had wanted to prove myself to my clan by seducing you… things changed so quickly. This was never a game to me. The stakes were too high from the moment you kissed me.”
He frowned and wheezed as he breathed, his heart stuttering and tugging more tears from her. “What… did you stake?”
She blinked and those tears chased down her cheeks to fall from her jaw. “My heart, and I lost it to you.”
He smiled, but it was strained, and doubts coloured his black eyes. The corona of violet-red around his dilated pupils glowed brighter and he grunted, squeezed her hand so tight as his jaw tensed that she flinched in pain.
She leaned in close, desperation seizing her again. “Live. Don’t be a stupid demon and think dying on a battlefield is the right way to go when living is a much more glorious adventure… one we could share. I’ll give you a reason to fight this battle against death and emerge victorious… a reason to believe me when I say that it was never a game… I’ll give you proof of my love for you.”
She dropped her head to his ear, careful to avoid his horns, and whispered her true name in his ear, surrendering all power to him.
When she drew back, his eyes were wide, searching hers, and he had to see the love in them and that she had spoken true because his heart beat harder and his expression grew determined.
“Give me one more thing,” he mumbled, his voice hoarse as he struggled to breathe.
She nodded. “Anything to bring you back to me.”
“Your blood.”
She knew what that would do. It would bind them and he would have the ultimate power over her.
But it would also make him stronger and give him a reason to fight.
So she didn’t hesitate.
She gathered her tangled colourful hair and drew it back from her neck, baring it to him. His eyes watered, warmed as he gazed up at her, love shining in them as she offered her blood.
Offered him forever.
She gently angled his head as she brought hers down, slipped her hand beneath his nape and raised him to her throat. Pain arced through her as his fangs sank into her and she expected it to continue, but as he pulled on her blood and it rushed into him, heat erupted in her, forged a connection that felt as strong as iron.
Unbreakable.
Feelings swept through her, her emotions and his. Fear. Pain. Hope. Love. It all collided and blended as he drank from her, as her strength flowed into him in another way, a gift of life she hoped would keep him with her.
She shivered as he pulled his fangs free and swept his tongue over the puncture marks, her head a little hazy as desire and fear swept her up and pulled her down.
She drew back and stilled.
Tingles rushed down her spine and over her arms.
She could see through the shadows.
Beautiful, tear-jerking colours swirled in his aura, shimmers of pink, gold and red.
Revealing the depth of his love.
She clutched his right hand as his eyes slipped shut and her momentary elation shattered as his cheeks paled again, the colours of his aura dimming as he sagged heavily on the bed.
She turned her gaze on the doctor.
Another female, this one a petite blonde in the unmistakable garb of a witch bustled over to them and ushered Olivia out of the way.
The witch huffed and scowled down at Tegan, her blue eyes sparkling as power rose around her. “You were meant to realise you were a dick and then I would lift the spell. You didn’t need to bleed it out of you, silly demon.”
Suki wasn’t sure what to make of her, but what the witch muttered next had her blood blazing.
“No naked wrestling for me.”
Suki shot to her feet, leaned protectively over Tegan and hissed at the blonde. “This demon is mine. Find your own man, witch.”
The woman blinked. “Witch with a capital B again. I’ve heard that before. Oh, and I’m happily mated. I just wanted to see him wrestle my husband for the cure. It was going to be epic.”
Heat rolled through Suki, fogging her mind as desire swelled inside her.
Tegan wrestling another guy while naked?
Oh gods, yes please!
She shook herself back to the room before she started drooling. Tegan was awake again and looking more than a little unhappy, his black eyebrows knitted hard above his pain-filled eyes.
“Your eyes are glowing,” he croaked. “Will not wrestle… the elf. Do not… want… your eyes… on anyone else.”
Fine. No watching him wrestle another guy while naked. Anything to make him happy. She would settle for imagining it.
She stroked her fingers across his brow, clearing the damp strands of his black hair from it as she held his gaze, willing him to heal. With the potent cocktail of her energy and blood in him, he was looking brighter and the wound was no longer bleeding.
He was going to make it.
He suddenly jacked up off the bed on a deafening roar, squeezing her hand so tightly that a few bones in it broke, but she didn’t feel it.
All she felt was fear as Tegan thrashed, blood streaming from the corners of his lips to track down his cheeks, and Olivia and the witch rushed to help him.
Because she hadn’t been able to.
She had given him everything, and it wasn’t enough.
Her ears rang, the numbness returning as she stared at Tegan as Olivia raced to assess the wound and the witch closed her eyes and held one hand over his forehead and the other over his chest, a faint violet glow emanating from her palms.
Suki stared at Tegan, willing him to keep fighting.
He had to fight for her.
For them.
She touched the marks on her throat that were still bleeding and sore.
Because she wanted that forever he had just promised her.
CHAPTER 38
For the first time in forever, Tegan was bone-deep afraid.
He had craved war, ached for battle, but now he felt it had been a terrible mistake and a terrible yearning to indulge, because he feared that it was about to part him from the beautiful fae female watching him with tears streaking her ashen cheeks. Her lower lip trembled, fresh tears glittering in her striking eyes as she assisted Rosalind, rushing to do all that the witch asked of her.
Attempting to save him.
He gritted his teeth against the agony that tore through him. The scent of his blood grew heavier in the air, choking his lungs, and he swallowed hard, desperate to keep breathing.
Suki’s eyes leaped to his and down to his chest, and she grabbed a wad of material and pushed it against the wound, her expression stricken as she applied pressure.
&nbs
p; His beautiful mate.
Their bond pulsed deep inside him, relaying all her fear to him, incomplete but powerful.
“Live,” she whispered, voice hoarse, and choked on a sob as her eyes darted back to meet his. “Fight. I need you. I’m sorry. I know what Cyrena told you… but I changed. I changed when I got to know you… when I fell for you. So you have to live… because I can’t live without you.”
He felt the same way. When he had thought she had betrayed him, when he had banished her in a fit of rage and hurt, it had honestly felt as though his life had been coming to an end.
And he had wanted to embrace it.
But now he needed to fight it.
For her.
His female needed him, and he needed her.
He shifted his fingers, aching to touch her, and she noticed. She grabbed his hand and lifted it, brought it to her face and kissed his bloodied knuckles, smoothing her lips over them as her tears hit his skin, stinging the cuts. She closed her eyes, tilted her head and pressed her cheek to his hand. Tears raced down her face and it killed him to see them. He wanted to brush them away and tell her not to fear, but he was weak.
Tired.
He had to conserve his strength.
So he picked the most important thing he wanted to tell her.
“I love you.”
She smiled, but it was strained and wobbled on her lips as more tears fell. “I love you too. I don’t want to live without you. You’ve made my life too colourful… too warm and good… filled with light. I need you… so you can’t leave me.”
Her words echoed his feelings perfectly.
The impish female looking down at him with all the love in the world in her green-to-blue eyes had brought colour and life into his dull existence, had made his mansion feel like a home in the short time she had been there, and had shattered the need he had felt for war.
She had lifted his curse.
He no longer felt as if ruling the Second Realm was a chore, a punishment, one he would trade in a heartbeat for a life on the battlefield.
If he could rule his realm with her at his side, he would gladly do it, and damn, he might even enjoy it.
He husked, “I was wrong… I did not need war… I only needed you.”
She smiled and kissed his hand again as Rosalind moved to the wound on his chest, taking Suki’s other hand from it and the material.
Suki cursed him in the fae tongue. “I came here to give you hell… to make you see you were wrong for pushing me away… and now I’m going to lose you.”
“Oh, mother earth!” Rosalind bit out. “Will you both stop being so bloody melodramatic! You’re not going to lose him. Demons are stubborn bastards. A sword through the chest is just a flesh wound. Give me five minutes and I’ll have him fixed.”
Prince Loren’s mate didn’t look as convinced as the witch. She hovered near the foot of the bed, concern in her dark eyes. Suki didn’t look convinced either as she cast him a fearful glance.
They weren’t alone in their doubts.
Tegan found it difficult to believe he was going to survive the next few minutes. He could feel his strength leaching out of him as cold invaded to chill his flesh and his blood, turning his mind sluggish as the room gently spun around him and sounds grew watery in his ears.
Distant.
He clung to Suki’s hand, afraid that if he released it, or even loosened his hold, that death would take him from her.
The air in the room suddenly darkened.
Tegan braced himself for the end.
But then it lightened again and an elf was glaring down at him, his sharp violet eyes edged with black as he arched an eyebrow and brushed a rogue hank of his blue-black hair back. Blood covered half of his face. Not the male’s own.
“The war is done. Loren has the sword. We shall leave soon,” Vail ground each word out, razor sharp fangs flashing between his lips as he turned his gaze on his mate.
The witch didn’t take her eyes off Tegan’s chest as she continued her work. “I’m a little occupied.”
She wavered, swaying as she closed her eyes and Tegan grimaced as she pressed on his chest, supporting her weight on him as the colour drained from her face.
“Stop,” Tegan gritted. He wanted to live, but he didn’t want to kill the witch to achieve it.
“I agree.” Vail closed his left hand over her shoulder and his armour receded, the black scales rippling towards his wrist to leave his hand bare.
“You can’t stop!” Suki barked and sharply leaned over Tegan, her eyes wild as she stared at Vail and Rosalind, fielding a glare from the elf. “I’ll lose him. He’ll die.”
Vail eyed her and Tegan, and casually said, “No one mentioned anything about allowing him to die.”
He gently guided Rosalind to beside him, assuming her position at Tegan’s side, and held his hands over Tegan’s chest. The armour covering his other hand peeled away too, leaving them both bare.
Tegan mustered his strength, a desire to know what the elf was about to do rising inside him as the male’s violet eyes brightened.
He screamed instead as Vail placed his hands on him and fire and lightning arced through him, sending him shooting up off the bed.
Tegan shivered at the same time as he sweated as he fought to remain conscious, every nerve ending in his body sparking and burning, the pain ripping through him so intense that the corners of his vision grew dark and he lost sight of Suki.
The elf was killing him.
He swore it as the pain built rather than receding, as the darkness pushed harder and his body grew colder.
He mustered his strength and managed to tilt his head enough that he could see Suki, because he needed to see her one last time to take her memory to his grave and into eternity.
She was pale, stricken and fierce as she fought the witch, battling to get past her to stop the elf.
Tegan lifted his right hand, desperate to touch her.
To comfort her.
Light burst around him, inside him, and suddenly the pain ceased.
There was no ice or fire.
He was warm.
Felt strangely at peace.
Was he dead?
He lay in the endless white, adrift and confused, awaiting the answer to that question.
Something tugged at his chest.
He sought the source of that sensation as it built and grew clearer, feeling as if something was reaching into him, holding hands out to him.
Something that comforted him beyond words and filled him with a soothing sensation, as if he was floating in warm air, embraced by light.
That light began to sparkle, waves of bright bursts of pale blue and purple that rippled across his vision, and then green joined them.
A lush and verdant colour that spoke of life to him despite the existence he had led in a black realm.
The comforting hands touched him, on his chest, warm on his skin, pouring life into his weary body as it calmed his mind and eased his heart.
He blinked.
Looked up at the person to his left and frowned when he recognised the elf. The male was glowing, the bursts of light dancing around him, and beyond him there was a shimmering form, one that seemed to be reaching into the elf.
Tegan reached for her, desperate to connect with her too as the elf could, jealous that the male could be held by her so closely.
So lovingly.
The illusion shattered and darkness crashed over him, pushing him back down into the world.
Voices sounded around him again.
The witch. “Did it work?”
Vail. “Yes.”
Suki. His sweet, beautiful Suki. “If it didn’t, I’m going to kill the fucking lot of you.”
Tegan coughed and grimaced, sore now that the light was gone. Suddenly, the warmth and softness of Suki pressed against him, her tears hot on his cheek as she pressed hers to it and held him tightly. He gritted his teeth against the pain as she squeezed him, not wanting to upset
her.
He looked up at the elf.
Rosalind stood beside her mate, her blue eyes bright with admiration and her smile proud. “I was right. Your connection is growing stronger again.”
Vail nodded, a pleased edged to his violet gaze as he struggled to breathe and brushed his hand over his forehead, clearing the sweat away as he tunnelled his trembling fingers into his wild dark hair. He attempted a smile, one that shook as Rosalind hugged him, and Tegan could see how important this moment was to him.
“What happened?” The strength of Tegan’s voice surprised him, and not only him.
Suki pulled back, shock in her eyes as she looked down at the healed wound on his chest, together with relief he could feel flowing through their growing connection. She looked to the couple too.
Rosalind released Vail and stroked his arm. “Vail is connected to nature, and while my spell kickstarted your healing, getting it going along at a nicer pace, it was Vail’s bond with nature that saved you. It’s coming back, just like I said it would.”
She turned her smile on her mate again.
Tegan frowned, his head aching as he struggled to recall what he had seen when Vail had been healing him.
Nature.
He remembered the light. The warmth. The green.
The figure that had stood behind Vail.
“I think I saw it,” Tegan murmured.
The colour drained from Vail’s face. “You saw her?”
Tegan nodded. “Beyond you… reaching into you… there was something there… almost as if she was embracing you.”
Vail suddenly dropped to his knees, his fingers grasping the dark grey flagstones as he stared at nothing, his violet eyes wide. He muttered in the elf language, lyrical sounding words that Tegan couldn’t understand, but he could feel the shock and disbelief in each one of them.
Rosalind crouched beside him and stroked her hands over his trembling shoulders, caressing the black scales of his armour. Her voice was soft, light and soothing as she spoke to him. “It’s good progress.”
The elf swallowed and nodded, and Rosalind wrapped her arms around him and held him.
Tegan looked away, giving them a moment even when he wanted to ask more questions. He had known elves had a connection to nature, but he hadn’t realised they believed her to be a living being, a higher power. He had a connection to nature too, had been born of the earth of Hell and travelled through his link to that earth whenever he teleported, but he had never believed nature to be an actual living thing.
Seduced by a Demon King Page 38