Stopping midway, she glanced back at the shut doors. All of them appeared ancient and worn, except for the last one, which was the only door made of heavy metal. How odd.
Did it cage a wild animal? A supernatural beast? Demons?
Frowning, she drew closer and pressed her ears to the unexpectedly freezing metal and concentrated. A low growl, no, a groan reached her, followed by a grunt.
The familiar smell of stormy nights and cedar permeated the air, stronger than the faint one from the sweater she wore. She reared back and frowned.
A pained moan reached her again.
Her heart banged against her ribs then took off in a frantic sprint to her throat. She hammered her fists on the chilly door. “Nik?”
“Get out!” A guttural growl. “You can’t fuckin’ haunt me here, too!”
Panic cramped her chest. Why the hell was he locked in a cell?
Terrified for him, she shoved at the heavy door. Then she saw the key in the lock, dripping icicles. Even the frame sported a layer of frost. What the hell? Who would bolt him inside? Anger tearing at her, she unlocked and shoved the heavy steel door open. Ice creaked, crackled, and crashed. More frost coated the door, the floor. Icicles hung from the ceiling.
The oppressive darkness in the cell made her desperately want to turn tail and run, but Nik was here. Her sight adjusted, and she saw him crouched in the corner. A thick, sulfuric odor burned her nose, but there were no demons around.
“Nik?” she whispered, holding onto the icy door.
His eyes gone a gleaming white fixed on her. Sweat dripped down his face to his heaving, bare, tattooed chest. A tiny glint of metal flashed. Nipple piercings.
“Nik—” She stepped into his den and cautiously approached him. He reminded her of a wild animal—a wounded predator. “What’s wrong? Why are you locked in this place?”
“No!” He leaped to his feet, pressing his back into the granite wall as if to escape her. Sparks of power shot out of him. A flare streaked across his torso, illuminating his tatts like lightning. “Go,” he snarled, fingers pressing into his inked chest as if to hold himself together. “Get out!”
A tortured groan escaped him, and he doubled over, a dark fog burst out of him. Shadow stumbled back, bumping into the door and slamming it shut, trapping her inside. More smog shot out of him, breaking open his sternum. Bones cracked like thunder rumbling. Blood flowed. Nik fell to his knees.
“Nik!” She darted across to him, falling on her knees and grasping his thick biceps, trying to push him up—
Power blasted her, and she flew back, hitting the wall and dropping on her backside. A hail of ice splinters slammed her, piercing her skin, hurting like hell.
“Shadow,” Nik croaked.
Tears burned her eyes at the pain splintering through her.
“Hold on, baby. Hold on. I’ll get it out of you.” He crawled across, his hands flying as he frantically pulled out the pieces of ice embedded all over her.
She bit back a moan, more anguish swelling through her like a flood…
No, not hers—
His.
“Nik, stop, stop!” She slapped her palms on his chest to push him away.
There’re no broken bones, no gushing blood on his chest.
Shadow shifted to her knees then stilled, the truth hitting her like a fist in her heart. Being what she was, she should have known from the beginning, but his shields had been unbelievably strong. She had no idea, until now.
There was so much dark energy inside him, worse than all the demons she’d fed from. If she gave him relief, then he would know the truth. But how could she not help the man she was starting to feel so much for, so much that his very pain drew her across the continent? He was in agony.
“Nik, let me help you.”
“No! You can’t help me. No one can.” Even his voice didn’t sound like his usual low tone, but guttural and rusty. He worked feverishly, yanking out more of the ice fragments she barely felt. “You have to get out!” The fear in his eyes terrified her. “The fucking demon moon is mere seconds—” His chest rose and fell, he hauled her to her feet and dragged her toward the door. “Lor—”
“No!” Shadow slapped her palm over his mouth, pressing her other hand to his chest. “Don’t call him.” She dropped her mental shields, letting her need take over. He jerked as if tasered as she drew on the thrashing energy…no, not energy but malevolent souls inside him.
This time, she had to take it all.
And save him.
“What the fuck—what are you doing?” he snarled, grabbing her upper arms.
Shadow did the only thing she could. She rested her brow on his sweat-damp chest as the rush of vigor from the feeding gushed through her. It was like finding an oasis after a long, long drought. Every part of her stuttered awake. She couldn’t move even if she wanted to.
Nik froze.
Oh, God. Please, please don’t hate me.
Then a soft groan escaped him, and his hands lowered to her hips.
Shadow bit her lip and glanced up, knowing what was happening. Her feeding had awakened his desire. His grip tightened, and she swallowed. She didn’t want him to want her this way, held in the grip of her feeding.
His head lowered and eyes shut as if drawn within himself to what was happening.
Shadow became aware of his cool, damp skin beneath her palms, the rapid thudding of his heart… Her gaze traced the sculptured lines of his cheekbones, the straight nose, and unshaven jaw, finally settling on his sensual lips—lips that could give her so much pleasure.
As the darkness in him faded, he blinked and shook his head, eyes flashing back to its icy green hue and locking on hers, sending prickles of unease down her spine. “What did you do?” he rasped.
How did she explain what she had done, with him looking at her as if he didn’t know her? Why didn’t he succumb to the lust like the demons did?
She clenched her fingers and stepped back. “I gave you ease.”
His stare didn’t waver. “What are you?”
“I’m human. What are you gonna do, huh?” she burst out. “Kill me because I’m like those vile things you exterminate? Go on then, do it!”
Nik slowly shook his head. Whether to clear his thoughts or not, she wasn’t sure, but trepidation squeezed her stomach.
The door slammed open, metal clanging against stone. Shadow squinted at the bright silhouette of the angel, Lore. “Human, I sensed your fear—” He grasped her arm.
“Don’t touch her,” Nik snarled, dragging her back.
“You appear to be in one piece except for the sparkling personality,” he told Nik, “So I assume she’s in no danger.”
“Get the fuck out—”
“What the hell’s going on?” a new voice demanded.
Shadow blinked at the other massive guy standing at the entrance with hair like lightning and irises an eerie demon red.
Those unsettling eyes narrowed. “Let her go, Nik.”
“Come near her, and I will kill you.”
“Fuck this—” Red Eyes dove for Nik, who shoved her away as the two men’s bodies hit the wall. A chilling roar broke free.
Oh, god, oh, god! She hadn’t meant for any of this to happen. Terror flaying her at the fight between immortal warriors, one she’d inadvertently started, Shadow ran.
Chapter 15
Shadow shut the door to an unused bedroom on the first floor where she’d sought refuge, and sagged against the wood, gulping in huge amounts of air. What had gone wrong with her attempt to succor him? Demons usually reacted within a few seconds of her touch, caught in the throes of lust at her feeding, but not Nik.
Yes, desire had blazed in his eyes, but he’d withdrawn from her as if trying to figure out what was happening. Then cold anger settled over him, chilling her. Why the anger? Because she’d kept this part of herself hidden from him?
Scowling, Shadow marched across the dusty floor. Silvery moonlight filtered in from the two grimy
windowpanes, shedding a little light into the shabby bedroom. She groaned and slumped down on the bare mattress of the old, carved four-poster bed.
The door crashed open, slamming against the wall.
She leaped up. Alarm bells clanged in her head, warning her not to run as Nik stalked inside, bare-chested, and looking like some ancient warlord god out for vengeance, his inked skin glistening from sweat.
“I told you to leave. You didn’t. Why?” His cold words froze her in place.
Her stomach hollowed out at the detached manner he watched her from a few feet away, hands hanging loosely at his sides. A bruise marred his jaw, but his irises flared as her gaze met his, scorching her like living flames.
Her throat dried up, words refusing to come out.
She’d never seen Nik this furious. Sure, he wore a cold look most times, but now he smoldered like the rapidly melting polar ice caps, with no escape for her.
Darn it. Was he not aware of what she’d done for him? She shrugged. “I did leave.” Well, eventually.
“Don’t push me, Shadow.” That icy stare narrowed. “What did you do to me?”
So he did know.
Like she’d tell him anything now, the ungrateful wretch. “You mean, what did you do? Throwing out those ice splinters like I was the enemy?” A low blow, but Nik in this mood worried her.
His lips tightened, and he prowled closer. Hastily, she backed away, the bed stopping her retreat. “What are you gonna do, huh? Punish me for helping you?”
In that annoyingly fast way of his, he grasped her wrists and wound them back around the bedpost, his bare chest brushing against hers, distracting her for a moment. Then something solid tightened around her sleeve-covered wrists. She tugged and frowned when she couldn’t free herself. A faint chill seeped through the material into her skin—
Oh, no, he didn’t!
“What the hell, Nik? You cuffed me with freakin’ ice!” Her heart slammed against her ribs. “You can’t just restrain me to the bedpost!”
“In this place, I can do whatever I want.” He stepped back. “You ran from me in the castle, at the club, and now. This is a little insurance as we talk.”
Talk—talk? “I’m not talking to you while shackled.” Clamping her mouth tight, she tugged her hands, but the damn ice had no give. She glowered at him.
“Very well.” He sent that cool stare of his over her, then he fingered the neckline of the finely knit jersey she wore. “My sweater?”
“I have no clothes here,” she shot back.
He grasped the neckline and tore it right down the middle.
Shock rippled through her as he spread open the ruined sweater, exposing her bare chest. Worse, she hadn’t worn a bra because of her injuries. Her fingers clenched, but she schooled her features, refusing to show him her apprehension.
A tic worked in his jaw as he examined her. She glanced down at herself. Several tinges of blood smeared her chest. Why didn’t he tell her he wanted to see if she was hurt? Probably because she wouldn’t have let him. But with her feeding so thoroughly for the first time ever, all the initial ice-splinter stings had already healed. “I’m okay—”
His head lowered, and he licked the red smudges on her shoulder, then his warm tongue trailed down to her left breast, and her nipple hardened.
Oh, shit. She gasped, her heart galloping to her throat. “Nik, I said I’m fine.”
He didn’t respond, seeming determined to find out for himself. His tongue laved every inch of her chest, then slid along the dressing covering her wound. Even though she knew it was another way they healed, with their saliva, a quiver of heat darted through her, and that darn piercing of his stroked her skin—gah! A deep ache built in her core.
“Dammit, Nik,” she stifled a groan. Please, please, don’t let him know how turned on I am.
His tongue swiped over her nipple—oh, god. She bit her lip, choking off her whimper. “Wh-what are you doing?” she forced out the words, sounding like she’d swallowed a handful of grit. “Let me go.”
He looked up, but nothing showed on his unreadable features. “I’m not done.”
And he lowered on his haunches, his warm, calloused palms gliding down her legs to her ankles. At the tiny bloody smudges there, he picked up her left foot and ran his tongue over them, then up her calf, finding every smear.
Goddd. Shadow shut her eyes as he dragged his mouth past her knee to her thigh, and she stifled a groan, her nerves stretching, tightening, her blood buzzing like a lit fuse.
Since her damn body betrayed her, she pressed her lips into a tight line and fought not to show just how much his touch affected her. But when he tucked the hem of her short plaid skirt into the waistband, her eyes snapped open, and her mouth went dry.
Now he watched her as he slid his tongue over the top of her thigh. Maybe she was panting, Shadow had no idea. Still…
“If this is your idea to teach me a lesson or whatever crapass reason you have, it’s not gonna work, you-you savage!”
“Let’s see, shall we?” He rose to his feet, then wrapped her loose hair around his hand, and lifted her face to his.
“Really?” She glowered at him. “Like you don’t already have me trapped, you cave—”
His mouth captured hers, cutting off her words, his tongue sliding over hers, sucking and stroking, his tongue piercing a tormenting caress. His bare chest lightly brushed her nipples, setting her alight.
A whimper escaped her. Shadow forgot her precarious situation and kissed him back, need surging through her like wildfire. Her shackled hands grabbed onto the post, and she strained forward, trying to press into him. But he broke their kiss.
Leaving her breathless, he withdrew a few feet, his lips wet from the carnal connection. His eyes blazed with heat, but his expression remained cool.
Oh, hell. She wasn’t going to outlast him with his demented game to teach her a lesson. She clenched her teeth so she wouldn’t beg him to come back and kiss her. Touch her. Give her release from this ache building in her core, tightening every nerve-ending in her body.
Amusement flashed briefly in his light eyes, then the fiend lightly brushed her sensitive nipple, and she bit her lip.
“Never disobey me again, Shadow,” he said, tone like granite.
She knew better than to blurt out her irritation, then he’d probably keep her here, shackled with his stupid ice cuffs, until she was old and gray.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” she muttered, refusing to look at him, so he wouldn’t see her fury.
“Next time, heed my warning. Right now, I don’t care that you gave me ease back in the cell. Never put yourself in harm’s way again. I’m too fucking perilous for you to take such chances with your life.”
With a wave of his hand, and the ice manacles cracked, splintering to the floor. Her hands freed, she clutched the ruined sweater together. Before she could stalk off, he grasped her arm. “Now…” The ominous word cut through her frustration, and. “We will talk.”
Meeting his hard stare, her stomach tensed. Just because she got hurt by the ice blast?
The girls had warned her he was dangerous. They—heck, she—hadn’t realized just how much until now. The man was ruthless in making a point.
He swept her into his arms and headed for the door. Still a little too shaky from what just occurred, she remained silent, but her mind raced. With his ability to sense lies, she was seriously worried about how much to tell him. Hell, what to reveal about what she was.
So far, she’d managed to wing her way through with half-truths.
Nik paced the length of his room after setting Shadow on his bed, his mind reeling. Terror, unlike anything he’d ever known, continued to rage through him, even if it was edged with desire. Dammit, he dragged his palms over his buzzed hair, trying to focus.
Pivoting, he examined her, reassuring himself he hadn’t caused any lasting. Obviously, she was okay when she mouthed off at him every chance she got.
She gripped th
e ruined sweater together, sending him sullen glares. At the blood smears on her cheek and neck, his heart shuddered at how easily he could have lost her. He did another head-to-toe psychic scan and found nothing. No dark souls, no darkness in her at all, except from her nodes.
He frowned, recalling the intense agony of his psychic shields splintering, of Shadow entering his cell moments before the souls escaped him…ice flying everywhere, hurting her. His panic at trying to get them out of her...of Shadow touching him, hugging him…then a sense of peace took over—
Peace? He must be losing his crazed mind.
Whatever it was, this reprieve from his endless torment would be transient, as his long, pain-filled life had shown him.
Nik rubbed his silent chest. No ruckus within, but this wasn’t unusual after the blood moon. The souls oftentimes quieted for a short while once trapped in him again after their failed bid for freedom. But the fight with Race caused his mind to blur out those moments of the souls escape and return.
Shit. He rubbed his jaw. Questions spun his mind.
Nik turned to her. At her mulish expression, yeah, he’d probably have to drag every word out of her. How did she calm him down and take away the agony of his curse?
“It seems there’s something you haven’t told me.”
A slender shoulder lifted in a shrug. “Dunno what you’re talking about.”
“What happened in the cell?” he asked again, because no human could escape the kind of souls he harbored. And those things wouldn’t just ignore her. They would have taken over her body and destroyed her mind within minutes.
Was that the “more” he first sensed in her five months ago? Was she somehow immune?
“Shadow?” he growled.
Her shoulders slumped, the fight in her disappearing. “I know you’re upset—”
Shattered Dawn (Fallen Guardians Book 5) Page 17