by Reid, Stacy
“I am worried about you!” The cry was torn from her throat, from her soul, and the anguish in her voice tore at him, even as it soothed.
There was no time to offer soothing words, he stepped from the cocoon of the shadows, the bloodletter in him rising with swirling madness.
“Take me with you. I am already recovered. I can fight.”
“No.”
Her frustration burned through the link. “I can sense the power the two men before you have,” she said, a tremble in her voice. “And dozens more are coming, I can feel the wave of energies drawing closer, and their thoughts are uncensored. They are bounty hunters, and the Avindite is a powerful tool for the empire. He assembled them. There is also a warlord, it was his spell which found me, and he is casting a cloaking spell over this area so we won’t be getting any reinforcements.” A hitch of hesitation traveled along their thread. “I will build a compulsion for them to turn away and give up hunting me. My call will be loud and insistent. Please Lachlan, I can turn them away.”
And for the first time since he woke to find his darkness entrenched with his soul, he paused and genuinely considered another option. For her. And only for her. For she meant everything to him.
But there was none.
She was so innocent, too damned naive despite everything she’d experienced.
It gutted something inside of him that he could not give this to her—mercy. He could feel the rage and the menace from those converging on them. He could allow them to leave, give his woman the latitude to plant suggestions in their minds, distort their memories of even finding her, but a message had to be sent to the empire, one stamped with a promise of his own.
The waves of his mate’s telepathic energy rushed through the air, brushing along the mind of the advancing enemy. He peered into the well of darkness he hid her in. She sat on the shadow chair, her legs curled beneath her, her fingers twisted in a triangular symbol as she sank into the well of her powers. Her hair crackled, and the thin fractures in her eyes seemed to shatter into more pieces as her powers expand.
Rage and bloodlust hammered in him with each beat of his heart, clawing and raking for supremacy, but the purity of his mate leashed it. Lachlan looked inside of his being where her light lingered, a bright glow in the darkness of his soul. Charka pulsed through his body, curling around her silver thread in a protective hold, clothing the mating link that connected them in unrelenting darkness, pushing her away from their mental link.
Then he coated himself in a savagery that filled him with exquisite pleasure as he moved with the shadows and the unrelenting power of the monster inside him, tearing out throats, and ripping hearts from their chests.
Blue lightning streaked through the darkness as the elder assassin from Avindar breached the shadows, a bolt of crackling energy poised at his fingertips as he crouched. Lightning forked in a spectacular display, streaks stretching through the shadows, ripping it apart. Lachlan twisted, diving left to avoid the pure energy slamming toward him.
In the flashes of light, he could see the assassin atop the lighting itself, his speed almost too great for Lachlan to track. He rolled out of the dive toward the assassin, moving with such force and speed it was as if time slowed. The dirt as it erupted from the ground seemed as if it stood still, the trees tumbling on the forest floor appeared as if they’d frozen in mid-fall. Lachlan twisted, spinning with the shadows, dodging the bolts of raw energy, and barreling toward the assassin, slamming his hand into his abdomen and ripping deep with his claws. The Avindite shifted avoiding a fatal blow.
A piercing shriek echoed in the forest as the lighting seemed as if it ripped the fabric of the atmosphere itself. The lightning ran across Lachlan’s skin, slicing deep, eating through flesh to his very insides like fire. The power of it slammed him back several paces, and blood poured from his side down his leg in a hot torrent.
Once he touched the Avindite assassin he would be struck by lightning, an absolute defense. But would it work if the touch was a fatal one?
In a coordinated attack meant to find his mate, bolts after bolts of incendiary lighting struck the shadows, the ground rolling and cracking apart as the Arian assassin used his earthy element to rip apart the forest floor. Lachlan summoned his demon, and with a pulse of unremitting power, it launched from his skin and slammed into the earth. His Leviathan roared a battle cry that echoed for miles throughout the kingdom.
The assassins exchanged an uneasy glance, fear shimmering in their eyes. There was no doubt they hadn’t anticipated a Darkan who had the power to summon his demon beast. Black scales rippled and covered Lachlan’s body. The assassins’ tried to track his beast. A fatal error. He stepped into the shadows then appeared behind the Arian assassin and plunged his claws towards his chest. A wall of crystallized minerals formed but not fast enough, for his heart was already ripped from his chest and dropped to the ground.
A gleam of light slashed from above and Lachlan jerked back avoiding the Avindite’s attack. He flowed with Lachlan striking toward his midsection at lightning speed. Unable to dodge Lachlan blocked the attack, but as the Avindite’s blow was parried another piercing sound ripped through the air lashing Lachlan with crackling lightning. It threw him several meters into the forest breaking all the trees, and boulders in his path until he crashed into the side of a cliff forming a vast crater.
A menacing roar rang across the forest as Orochi decimated the last of the Avindite’s support. Only one remained, and though the warlord was cloaked his fear revealed his location. Lachlan would save him for last, for now, he would let the warlord believe he was safe behind his spell.
Orochi’s sight levelled on the Avindite and he was aware, for he summoned the depths of his strength scorching the ground and destroying all life in a hundred-meter radius around himself. Lightning danced over his skin and crackled from his eyes. He appeared at the height of his power. The state Lachlan wanted him at, for the edge of fear from the warlord now disappeared. No doubt confident in his leader’s ability. In this form, the Avindite would be ruthlessly vanquished before his subordinate. An example of the difference in power between an elder Avindite and a bonded Darkan, the tale of might which needed to be spread.
Simultaneously Lachlan and Orochi shot off toward the Avindite, their speed leaving a path of destruction behind. The Avindite was fast, his reaction instantaneous, lightning spilling from the sky with deadly intent toward both man and beast. The lightning struck, but Lachlan and Orochi were already ahead of it, the electricity on their heels charring the wreckage in their wake.
In an instant they were upon him, his lightning always a few feet behind, but his reaction once again was quick, for he blasted a wall of electricity toward them, adding a frontal assault to his trailing lightning. But where there is the light, there is always the dark. Both beast and man stepped into the shadows to re-emerge before the Avindite, Lachlan went low, and Orochi went high. Lachlan tore out a chunk of the Avindite’s torso, ripping through several vital organs, while Orochi took his head.
There was no lightning defense, instant death rendered it null. The Avindite’s body fell to the ground, and Orochi roared its triumph.
A wave of dismal failure rushed into Lachlan’s nostrils. He stepped with speed toward it slashing with might into a force field which distorted to reveal the warlord. He was young, with markings on his face making him look skeletal. His hair was wild and midnight black falling to his waist. His body was covered with symbols, and he wore a shoulder guard of humanoid skulls. His eyes were lifeless but filled with ambition and a hunger for power.
The energy barrier cracked under Lachlan’s strike, and the warlord smiled, incanted a phrase then stepped into a portal which closed behind him.
Lachlan inhaled seeking negative essence. There was none. With the enemy crushed, he stepped into the shadows and removed the barrier protecting his mate. Through the red haze of bloodlust still pounding through his veins, the softness of her fingertips on his chest barely
registered. Her scent of rain filled his lungs, and a soft head butted his chin, like a feline vying for the attention of her mate. He arched her to him, raked his canines over her neck, his lips and tongue easing the sting as he made his way to her collarbone, then lower to the soft curve of her breast where he struck deep with his fangs.
A wild cry tore from her throat, but she held his head to her, and he felt no fear. His throat pulled, and he shuddered from the sheer pleasure of it. She tasted exotic, exquisite, her blood centering him as the violent storm within quieted. He pulled from her and swiped his tongue over the punctures, healing them. She eased back from him and their gaze collided. She looked mesmerized and terrified, unable to look away from him. He bathed his skin in shadows, hiding from her sight his clothes that were drenched in blood.
She slipped her mind into his, and her energy poured over him like molten lava, filling the cold, dark crevices of his soul. The white purity of her light burned away the darkness, and their mind merged deeper than they’d ever gone before. He felt her every breath. Her heartbeat and it was inside his own chest. Her fear felt like his own. Her relief that he lived swept through his body. And all the aching hunger, fears, and hope in her soul became his. She was crying, and he felt her pain as though it was his own. The immense pressure that sat on her shoulder became a boulder in his mind. The acrid fear that if she allowed him in her heart, she would lead her people to more damnation pummeled her. And the desire she had for him. His heart trembled. It was a living flame in her soul, a need so profound it shook her.
Knots of tension Lachlan hadn’t known held him eased. And it was then he acknowledged there had been a fear inside him that she might not return the intensity of emotions that he felt.
Someone groaned as a body slid along the ground in a bid to escape. Lachlan’s shadows caught and wrapped around the man’s throat. The scent of the man’s terror was the sweetest of perfume, its fragrance an addictive aroma, urging him to torment and torture so he could feed more.
“Please, Lachlan let him go.” The soft touch of Shilah’s hand on his chest did nothing to ease the primal violence churning inside him.
“He intended to cause your death.”
Vulnerable pain and fear flashed across her expression. “I am alive, you saved me.” She glanced at the bodies on the ground, and he felt the need rising within her to vomit. Stepping back, she heaved, looking everywhere but at the carnage.
And he could sense her desperation inside, and with a burst of clarity, he realized their mateship hinged on his mercy. There was a dark fear inside of the bloodletter within him. Then he recalled her sister’s vision that he would harm their people. Lachlan knew an outcome like that was only possible if they hurt her, and anyone who caused her pain could not earn his forgiveness even if he had been inclined to the odd emotion.
He suspended the man in the air and tightened his shadow around the man’s neck, compressing his windpipe strangling the air from his throat.
“Please. He has a wife and three daughters. His wife is ill, and their healers can do nothing. They have need of money to purchase the elixir from Boreas or Caelum. For citizens of his lower orders, the cost is equivalent to five years’ wages. He is desperate, and that is the only reason he responded to the call of the bounty.”
The pain in his mate’s voice crawled through him, burning straight to his soul and searing him with white fire. He withdrew the shadow and dropped the man. He scrambled back, breathing erratically, eyes darting back and forth between Shilah and Lachlan.
“Go,” she said softly. “Do not hunt me or you will only meet death.”
Lachlan felt the buzz of her power as she planted the suggestion in the man’s mind. Then she tugged the small dagger from her side and threw it at the man who caught it deftly. It was embedded with precious stones of rubies and jasper. The man stared with surprise, and his eyes flared with something akin to hope.
“This should pay for a vial of elixir and will feed your family for years. Go now.”
The man nodded, lurched to his feet and ran away. Lachlan inhaled deep, marking the scent of the man, the predator in him knowing he would never allow a threat to his mate to go unpunished.
“Do not, Lachlan. I gave him my word he would live. I searched his memories he is not a murderer. He is a good man.”
He truly believed only his mate could think a man who had resolved to take her life for money was good. She waited, staring at him with her beautiful eyes. She looked vulnerable, young, and all too fragile.
“As you wish it, he will not die by my hands.”
Her relief at his mercy burned along their thread, and she hurtled herself in his arms.
Her voice filled his mind, the tones soft and so achingly familiar. I need you.
19
An indescribable warmth slowly infused her body. The forest was still, the raw scent of blood fading from her nostrils, and carnage no longer in sight. Shilah held onto him as she moved them into a clearing, her muscles relaxing now that they were safe. Despite the shattering brutality of the past few minutes, she could live there, in his arms, their body entwined, hearts beating in harmony forever. And that was why Shilah knew she had to leave him under the cloak of secrecy, tonight, through the portal Princess Saieke had planned to use to escape to earth. Even now she could feel its phantasmic energy, and with her enhanced strength and speed, it should only take her a few hours to reach the portal.
Her people needed her, as his King needed him. If she left, her entire soul would cry out to him, and he would follow. Even now, something gaping tore at her heart, and she had to ruthlessly build barriers along their link, so he was not aware of the riotous feelings beating inside her.
“You are distressed mate.”
She closed her eyes, swallowing back the burn of tears, and the aching regret and pain already hammering through her. “Lachlan.”
A hand soaked with blood cupped her chin and lifted her face to his. How wild and feral he seemed, how dangerous and brutal, his chakra still pulsing with a remorseless fury, yet his touch was inexplicably gentle.
For a terrifying moment, she’d thought he died. And the fear that had lived and breathed in her had all been for him. The sense of loss and sorrow had been great, for there was so much more she wanted to know about this man. A thousand birds took wings in her stomach, and Shilah crawled up his body and wrapped her legs around his waist. The look in his eyes stole her sanity. The combination of raw strength and tenderness shifted something down deep her. She pressed her hand over her heart, suddenly barely able to breathe. It was impossible not to fall more and more for him. “I crave the taste of you, and I burn for your body.”
Every detail of Lachlan Ravenswood would be etched forever into her mind and heart. He’d stolen a piece of her that she hadn’t known existed, and she would not fight to ever reclaim it back. Even with the Omniverse separating them, he would always have that part of her.
She did not have to verbalize her need, he understood perfectly. He kissed her, and his embrace thrilled her, sent her into another world of pure sensation where she lost herself. He delved his tongue in to taste every part of her. He tasted like violence, like the rain, like comfort, like lust and sin.
“I need you…in me. Love me, Lachlan.”
She was only dimly aware of her clothes being torn from her. Their mouths stilled fused together, a waft of breeze over their body and then they were perched on a rock’s ledge, a waterfall pounding their bodies, washing away the blood and violence.
Another waft of breeze, a swirl of shadows and she was lying on her back on the wet grass, that felt sublime against her sensitive skin. The waterfall pounded off the mountain in the distance, and thunder rumbled in the air. Hard, muscled, his larger body blanketed over hers, licking along her neck, down to her collar, and over her tight, aching nipples. She arched as he sucked the tip of her nipple with a strong pull of his mouth.
He didn’t linger, moving lower, parting her legs wide. T
he touch of his tongue on her clitoris was such a shock of pleasure that she couldn’t hold back her cry. Her world narrowed entirely on the pleasure crowding her senses. He raked his teeth over her straining nub, then licked it hard. He alternately savored and consumed. Her heels dug into the earth, hips lifting, a cry tearing from her as his tongue pressed inside. Hungry, desperate moans spilled from her, mingling with his low, gravelly murmurs of approval fluttering against her wet sex.
She moaned and bucked under the carnal lash of his tongue, but he was unrelenting. Her hands went to his hair, fingers fisting the thick locks. She shivered as he pressed her harder onto the grass. Drawing her beneath him, he parted her thighs with his own, pressed his cock at her damp and welcoming slit, and surged deep, burying himself in one smooth stroke.
White lightning streaked in her veins. Lachlan!
He started to ride her, and his name became a whimper, a cry, a plea, a gasp, a moan. He whispered something low and guttural. His body was hard and powerful, moving against hers. Her core ached, and she would be sore for hours to come, perhaps days, but all she could do was feel a desperate, agonizing need for more.
He rolled with her, until she lay atop of him, his hip surging up from below, never stopping his pounding rhythm which she rocked her hips to meet, arousal becoming molten in her veins. She held onto him, one hand clutched at his back, the other around his neck. Shilah panted, sweat glistening on her body as she rode him in a deep, sensual guide, her hips circling, sliding up and down, as she fucked him like he surely fucked her. He caressed the globes of her ass, the hollow in her back. He touched her gently, almost reverently.
Chakra exploded around her, caressing all over her body, slid sinuously around to her wet sex. It delved between her folds and rubbed. Her clit throbbed, ached, swelled painfully at the friction his chakra generated. Her head fell back, the curtain of her hair rippled over her back brushing his thighs, a hard shudder wracking her body.