by Jewel Adams
With the loss of his seeking lips, all the fears she carried for him came rushing in. Pressing her fingers to his lips, she kept him from recapturing what she took away. The tears she no longer controlled fell in abandon down her translucent cheeks. Wylan’s finger reached out and caught the crystal tear before she found the strength to pull back.
“Melane?”
“Hush love…there is no time left to us.” In the distance, voices began to intrude on them. “You must escape, go now! Majok is outside with his army and will be coming to help you.”
Taking another step back Melane broke the contact between them, knowing she would fade from his searching eyes.
“Melane!”
“I’m still here.” She would stay as long as they allowed her. “Take care my dear Wylan. Do try, Wylan, not to cast judgment unfairly…maybe someday you will find it in your heart to forgive me?”
“Melane!”
Clenching her lips tight, she didn’t answer his panicked cry. How she treasured the fear and concern she heard coming from him for her. It would be the last time any tenderness existed between them and Melane could have disappeared forever over the harsh truth.
Goodbye, Wylan…my cherished warrior.
Understanding what she never did before, Melane wept for what they lost together.
The journey back was swift. This time Melane didn’t struggle to regain awareness. She lost the will to face what would soon come.
Great racing bodies passed her and for a moment Majok’s worried frown focused above her, but then he too was gone.
~*~
At her wits end, Tarra tried again to make Melane drink the healing brew. Her eyes nervously looked in the direction of the fierce battle. There were less and less cries of death, but she couldn’t see if Wylan moved among the victorious Selams exiting the caverns.
“Drink it Melane!” The cup stayed with the protesting movement of the girl’s lips until Tarra won. “That’s it, take it all.”
Choking from the drowning flow, Melane forcefully pushed the hand away. “Enough!”
“Did you?”
“Yes, he was free before Majok moved his men in.” Melane turned away from Tarra’s relieved gaze. The voices drawing nearer made her struggle to rise off the ground.
“You shouldn’t get up.”
Biting off her pained retort, Melane refused to let the men return and find her like this. She thanked Shemon’s training and managed to stand under the swirling weakness. Unfortunately, none of her training or powers gave her the old courage she needed to face Wylan.
Wiping away the dampness on her cheeks, she wanted to run when she spied the dark head towering above the others. Staggering miserably, her breathing sounded erratic as her starved eyes followed the commanding presence among his peers. Some of his prior strength returned, though her gaze tightened over the camouflaged strain in his movements.
His mother ran towards him. Melane fought down the desire to join them. Any movement on her part would be disastrous.
As he hugged his mother, his questioning black eyes never left Melane. The ill feeling her parting words imbedded in his senses revived in brilliant clarity. Something was terribly wrong with Melane and it went deeper than the quiver of exhaustion assaulting her pale features.
Wylan started towards her, but the unexpected restraint of his mother’s grip on his arm, called up the fighting lights to his staring gaze. Taking her hand away, his eyes questioned her. When they too fell away in silence, Wylan felt as if he was reliving one of Dragon’s tortures.
Melane sucked her breath in when his flaming eyes riveted back at her. She pleaded with the Gods for strength not to fall before him in her misery.
Majok came beside Wylan matching his strides, but when Wylan stopped before her, Majok completed the distance to her side.
Wylan’s hand closed over the hilt of his sword. His eyes narrowed in warning upon the pair.
“Melane, come to me.”
Why did it have to be like this? She started to falter under the brightening rage in his thunderous eyes. One word and all her vows would be vanquished.
Seeking Majok turned into the worse insult she could have delivered, but Melane wasn’t thinking clearly. Silently she pleaded one last time with Majok for release. The harsh shake of his head made her weave dangerously beneath his cold refusal. She cursed the weakness that allowed Majok to keep her from falling. Low and vicious, her warning struck out where she couldn’t. “Don’t touch me!”
Staggering under his instant release she managed to hold her feet under her, only to face Wylan’s scathing condemnation. She could delay no longer and survive his punishment. “I…the two weeks are over.” Her words made little sense. They only caused Wylan’s brow to knit and his eyes to darken in endless questions, giving him a more threatening appearance. He could likely kill her for what she had to say. The law was simple, she could be won by claiming or…choose another, willingly, as a lifemate.
She shuddered over what she did and would do again to save him. “I have chosen Majok as my lifemate.”
Tarra stopped her son’s advance when the surrounding men couldn’t.
“It’s the time rule, Wylan. You failed to claim Melane during the first two weeks.” Tarra turned slowly around to glare at Melane before stating the rest. “Melane chose not to wait for your return.”
Stunned by the woman’s venomous accusation she opened her mouth to protest, but Majok’s movement at her side made her clamp her lips tight.
It didn’t matter, the damage was done. The condemning blaze lighting his eyes said he already judged her. Nothing would extinguish his rage.
Majok grew rigid when Wylan stepped forward.
Cold as the blinding caverns she just left, his eyes drove into her own. He never broke his brutal hold over her. “Majok?”
“I posted my claim…Melane was gracious in accepting my wishes.”
Why didn’t he ask her? It didn’t matter that she was bound by her honor to uphold her vow. Couldn’t he see her pain?
Sadly, she knew pride blinded him. The unfathomable aspect of these Selams rose in all its devastating glory to defeat her. Nemows all had it, but they always asked for reasons, never did they turn away if the question was still alive!
She wanted to scream at him, pound on his massive chest, until she woke his sleeping heart to the truth. Oh yes, I choose Majok over you and then saved you to condemn me and inflict this mortal blow!
When his dagger gaze released her, the finality shook the ground beneath her feet.
“I wish you well Majok, but I doubt the elamie will ever learn to treasure your vow.” His parting words were as cold as his iced heart against her.
Maybe she should be relieved he turned away and did not try to sugar her part of this bitter blasphemy. Be it anger or pain she lacked the strength to stop his cruel judgment. Her only solace was in having him alive to inflict the deadly wound.
Chapter 10
Revelations
Jagged scars tore across the blackened sky as lightening rumbled in shuddering protest on its ragged path.
It seemed an eternity since she’d stood here watching the storm ragging outside Majok’s compound. A sad laughter ripped through the severe line of her lips. She honestly felt the storm was the enactment of the Gods’ displeasure over her betrayal.
Another flash streaked in the darkness, whipping her dress around her legs. She held little awareness over the vicious wind that reached out to pummel her chilled flesh. There was no sheltering comfort to be found in her surroundings and she sought none.
Closing her eyes, she failed again to call his image up before her tortured sight. Shouting out, her pain was lost in thunder’s roar. “Am I to be denied my memories, as well?”
Unable to stand the desertion, Melane began pacing within Majok’s chambers.
It was the waiting that threw her into such an unstable state.
Dragon’s escape into the caves mocked all their attemp
ts to root him out.
Melane still shuddered over Wylan’s rage.
Taking control of the army he turned ruthless in his assault. The hours she’d waited in shamed silence remained a horrible memory. Dawn struck before Majok had been allowed to return and escort her to his home. Melane felt too numb to suffer her body’s protest during the return trip. It wasn’t until she woke in his bed that she realized Majok rejoin Wylan immediately after leaving her in his servant’s care.
An angry smile creased Melane’s lips. He’d taken Rolley with him to insure her presence remained.
Strange, but she lost all feeling for what her future held. Majok would probably be furious to know she cared not when he returned. Melane’s devastation was complete and nothing could make it worse or mend the destruction.
Another flash sent its blinding light throughout the room. Spinning about her movements froze, stunned by what her disbelieving eyes couldn’t dismiss.
Everything grew still around her, expect the pounding rhythm in her heart. There at the balcony, outlined against the brilliant storm, stood Wylan!
In longing, her ardent gaze flowed over every virile contour of his vibrating muscular form. She wanted to memorize it all before he vanished from her hungry mind. Melane thanked the Gods for their mercy in letting her mind if only for a moment envision him again.
As if an invisible shield surrounded them, Melane captured his very soul. He cursed the weakness that drew him to her and the woman that bewitched him. His chest heaved under the truth of her betrayal, but still, he came to her.
He told himself, he stood before her because of his hate. His reasons were right. Coming to take what she stole from him was just. He heard nothing except his conviction to claim what belonged to him. He cared not that he’d leave her to Majok, but first she would know what she carelessly turned away from.
When he stepped into the room she felt the air burn in her lungs, never quite sating her need. Reality shook the ground around them. Glistening raindrops coursed down his bold frame, encasing his jeweled body in their heavenly glitter.
The truth of his presence passed in breathless wonder over her dry lips. “Wylan…”
He came closer; holding Melane’s rising panic in place with the power surrounding him.
The warnings against what was really happening should have sent her fleeing for the first time in her life, but Melane couldn’t make her legs move. A wild calamity of fear and a frightening desire to face the rage now stalking her, held her fast before his advance.
“Always the brave warrior, Melane? Too bad your training failed to instill honor in its Captain.”
Halting her silent tears of defense proved impossible. No words could vanquish the hatred that brought him to her. Melane’s heart cried for what she saw forever encased in his features against her. The coldness that stole the lights from his dark eyes would not be warmed by her pleas.
Revenge carried Wylan to breech Majok’s claim. She didn’t have the strength to save herself from his wrath. Even as her eyes pleaded with him to go, she suffered the touch of his hands taking hold of her, of her body leaning into his. Nothing, no mystical gift nor warrior training could shield her from what he came to take. Only her broken heart held the truth of his assault.
The crushing possession of his lips and body over her own bruised her fragile fortress and Wylan became the ravaging conqueror. She was his!
The roar of victory growled deep within his chest as she rose against him in passion’s flames. Anger’s force swirled and gathered into blazing desire for the woman denied to him, but Wylan refused to leave without claiming what he’d come for.
The mound of furs he took them to didn’t gentle the power he held her in. If only he realized she no longer possess the will to stop him and no desire to combat the battle he couldn’t let die.
Melane’s hands found their own course as she strived to memorize every virile contour of his glorious form, knowing she may never be this close to him again. No, Wylan came to conquer and he would vanquish her willing soul and leave with his victory.
He wanted to shake her, order her to fight…to stop him! And in the same breath he knew he would use all his strength to crush any fight she waged. The woman in his arms, beneath his mastering body, held no barriers up before him.
Staring down into those mystical blue pools, Wylan cursed the warm beauty they gloried in. Everything inside him moved forward to halt her silent conquest…he was the conqueror, not this wisp of a girl that didn’t even know her own power!
And in rebellious defense Wylan stripped away the final barrier, leaving her ivory flesh exposed to his plunder. His large palms captured the opulent globes of her breasts. What began in anger, gentled in the taking as she rose, offering him all he came to possess.
In wanton surrender Melane gave herself over to his masterful caresses. Her fingers caught and held his head, drawing him down to take from her what his fierce warrior gaze wanted. The warm touch of his lips covering the tight nub of her womanly breast tore a surprised moan of defeat from her lips and Melane became shameless as she arched against his powerful body. Touching a part of him that she instinctively knew could rule her, forever, Melane lifted her hips up in abandoned victory to his warrior’s force.
Wylan’s body vibrated against her, his hands moved over her, staking the claim she tried to escape. The surge of male power seized him as he took his ardent pillage of her beautiful flesh, where no other had ever touched. She turned into all warmth and softness, gentling the rage that directed him. No words passed their lips, yet his were insatiable upon her flesh, suckling and nipping every exquisite inch.
She grew wild beneath him, a warrior out of control in the heat of a battle she never engaged in before. Wylan ruled her in ways that went beyond the flesh. Melane drifted between realities, clinging to the only one she ever wanted. “Wylan!”
Gripping her thrusting hips he answered her call, plunging his shaft deep within the sable folds until her hot flesh captured and held him in their sheltering heat. Like a surrendered arrow her cry tore through his heart, lodging itself there at the core of his being. He feared he would never be able to pull it free. In breathless defeat her name sealed his lips over her own. And like a starving man he drank of her essence as their bodies parried and battled until they joined together in perfection, racing to the ultimate victory.
The delicate quivers still assaulting her exquisite form rippled against his heated flesh. Like the sorceress he knew her to be, Wylan felt his defeat to the base of his soul. What he came to steal she gave over to him as a gift.
Pushing away from her, he fought the internal war taking life inside him. Melane was his as no other. No lies could deny the truth. What he came for no longer felt to be enough and Wylan cursed the weakness that brought him here.
Melane shivered against what she saw coming from him. His warrior pride was rearing in denial against her. She tried to call on her own, wanting desperately to combat the rage still burning between them, but Melane’s heart failed, she wasn’t strong enough. Go…run far and fast Wylan before we destroy each other!
Feeling him stiffen at her side she wondered again if he could sense her thoughts. If you can, why can’t you see the truth behind the lie?
When he moved to rise, all of Melane’s internal warnings came to life, telling her to shield her heart from this man!
The rage he came to her with was back and set firmly in place against her. In silence, she bemoaned the injustice that made him turn away from her, from what they just shared. No! She’d not let him destroy the beauty in that memory. She refused to feel any shame or let him humiliate what she knew to be true. Melane’s pain came because Wylan could believe she still betrayed him after what they just shared together. Stubborn pride blinds you, Wylan!
Melane refused to pull the furs about her and let his penetrating gaze devour her. So fierce were they upon her she believed he could burn her flesh. It was the unveiled hate he refused to cover th
at rocked her body before him. Something deep inside her reached out of the destruction he left in his wake, it stirred and moved until Melane could no longer deny its presence. Instincts driven by both sects joined together for survival against his final blow.
How she managed to stand before him she didn’t remember. Every slaughtered piece of her courage and pride came forward before him, refusing to let him see the depth of his destruction. Her voice betrayed none of the raging emotion holding her on her feet. “Be gone Wylan…there is no longer any reason to remain.”
His great form shook against the rage her declaration instigated. He felt a wildness overtake him and his fist clenched tight to combat the primitive urge she drove him to. Did she not feel what passed between them?
There was no mistake in her belief over the battle he waged with himself at that moment. Be it self preservation or the very love she wanted to protect from their mutual destruction, she needed to prevent what he was going to do. A stranger to their way she may be, but Melane knew Wylan just broke his own law by coming here. Letting him destroy himself by not leaving her here was forbidden. Melane consoled her own fate by telling herself he was still ruled by anger and the taking would be no more than that on his part.
How I wish your heart ruled you my fierce warrior. For then I might not have to reinforce my lying betrayal to save either of us!… “The storm has ended Wylan…Majok will soon return.”
For a second the pain she glimpsed in his glaring stare made her conviction waver. Alas, it was gone too quickly, replaced by the angry flames of his dark eyes.
“Get dressed, Melane!”
Her back stiffened against his order. “Your commands no longer affect me, leave me.”
She prayed the right side would win over the battle she witnessed before her. Dare she help him? The fleeting stab of her conscience against using her powers on Wylan was firmly pushed aside. Schooling herself not to show him anything Melane focused her thoughts against him. Leave her, go now, you are King Wylan of the Selams, she is but another elamie.