by Dana Archer
“I’ve always used condoms.” Why that even matters in this conversation, I don’t know, but the way Uri describes my past sex life makes me feel dirty.
“You won’t with me.” Uri slips his other hand between my thighs. It’s almost a reminder of his right to touch me…any way he wants. “You won’t take another lover after me either. You won’t even remember what loving them felt like. Just like the whore I touched won’t haunt me. There won’t be any room for those memories. There never is once true mates meet. And that… that is why shifters don’t save themselves. Nothing they do with another lover before they claim their other half matters. It’s all just something to pass the centuries and—”
“An experience that preps us for each other.”
“Yes, baby. An experience that ensures we’ll savor the heaven only our true mate can offer us.” Uri explores my body as if he has forever to touch me—to love me. “And tonight, my little golden girl, you will discover what no other lover can give you.”
“Heaven?”
“Eternity, Lyla.” With a small smile, Uri releases my neck and slides his hand over my bottom before lowering me to the bed, his body straddling mine. “And come morning, you’ll be begging me to take your human life and tie your soul to mine.”
Twenty-Eight
Lyla
This man—this Royal shifter I’ve allowed into my body—shattered me, guaranteeing I’ll never think about another lover. It’s impossible. Only thoughts of loving Uri fill my head and heart, and the memories of what we did together last night leave me anxious to experience more…every night for eternity.
Propped on my elbow, I take in the sight of my sated mate. And “mate” is the right term for Uri too. He’s more than a lover, more than a boyfriend, more than even a husband would be to me. He’s my perfect match—body, heart, and soul. The completely yellow eyes staring back at me remind me of the very thing that sets Uri apart from any other man I’ve known.
He’s not human. At least not in the same sense I am. He’s stronger, faster, more powerful, and…
Immortal.
But I’m what he needs. Me…with my muddled past, the baggage that comes along with it, and my not so perfect body. Uri wants me in spite of everything I’m not. And he wants me…
“Forever…” I swallow hard, my thoughts scaring me as much as the idea of spending eternity with Uri excites me. “You mean that in a very literal sense. We’ll have forever. As in I’ll never die.”
Uri’s brows pinch, and his lips press into a firm line. He nods. “Yes, I mean that in a very literal sense. You will be tied to me forever once I mate you. But no, it won’t guarantee you won’t die. That’s for me to ensure. Your life is in my hands, and if I lose it or my own, we both die.”
“That doesn’t sound as appealing.” Except, Uri’s right. I know that. He can’t guarantee we’ll live forever. Death happens. Being a Royal doesn’t exonerate him from that fate. It just makes the fall into oblivion a little harder as only the loss of his head or heart would end his life. But me?
I inhale sharply, my heart pounding. “I’ll become your weakness. Won’t I? Hurt me, hurt you. That’s what forever means, right? I die, you die.” I groan. “Of course it is, you just said that. If I get killed, I’ll take you with me. Ugh…I have to keep myself alive, and I’m not strong. I can’t even use a treadmill without endangering my life. Or walk across a street without almost getting hit by a car. Or—”
“Lyla.”
My name in Uri’s calm, steady voice stops my rant. He’s not upset. He’s not worried. He’s watching me with his completely pale yellow eyes, and the confidence displayed there slows the pounding in my chest. I focus on him as the last of my tension slips free. My shoulders relax.
Uri settles his hand on my bare hip. “Your soul was chosen out of the billions that have passed through the heavens to be my perfect match, but I am also yours. My strengths to your weaknesses. Your assets to my deficiencies.”
“But you have three cats, and I have—”
“The ability to turn me into the perfect warrior.” Uri brushes my hair from my shoulder and skims his fingers over the spot where my shoulder meets my neck. “You see? We’re stronger together, strong enough to become what the gods and goddesses envisioned, and if fate cuts our time on this earth short, we’ll have eternity with our deities. Wherever we end up, though, you are my reward, my gift, my—”
“Heaven.” Smiling, I focus on Uri’s chest as my cheeks warm and the feeling of acting like a foolish girl settles over me. “You told me that.”
“And I’ll continue to tell you that until you believe me.”
I flick my gaze to Uri’s face. No longer completely colored, his normal pale yellow eyes focus on me with determination. “I do believe you.”
“Enough to allow me to ram my clawed hand into your gut or slice open a vein, letting your lifeblood soak this bed we made love in?”
My chest burns on my caught breath.
Uri sighs. “Allowing a predator into your bed is one thing. Tying your soul to a Royal is another. Mating us isn’t just a few minutes of pain that can be forgotten with a good orgasm as it is with single shifters. I’ll be ripping not just one piece of your soul out, not even two, but four. And each time I claim a piece, you get to experience the debilitating sensation of having a piece of another entity’s soul shoved into the hole left behind. You’re going to fight that, baby. No matter how much you want to spend eternity with me, you’re going to fight me.”
“No, I won’t. If a little pain is what it takes to secure our forever, then I’ll suck it up.” My words don’t stop the tightness leaving my muscles rigid and my chest squeezing until breathing is nearly impossible.
“You won’t be able to help it.” Uri softens his voice. “It’ll be instinctual. You’ll want to hide from the pain. Run from it. Run from me.”
“Because I’ll feel like prey.” Uri explained the phenomenon to me once already, and while I don’t want to acknowledge the truth, I can’t deny it.
“Because you’ll want to save your soul from shattering.” Uri cups my cheek. “And if you fight me or my cats as we claim and exchange souls, that’s what will happen. Your beautiful, pure soul will shatter into millions of pieces that I won’t be able to put back together. Once you’re injured in such a horrific way, I’ll lose you, your soul slipping away with the pieces of mine and my cats’. You’ll leave me wounded, unable to face another moment without you, baby. We’d follow you, praying we could find you.”
I scramble away from Uri and sit on the edge of the bed with my knees tucked under me and my arms wrapped around my chest. “And leaving me on the verge of death before you even claim a piece of my soul will make this process easier? Is that what you’re telling me?”
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you.” Uri rolls to his side but doesn’t close the space I put between us as if he recognizes how freaked out I am and doesn’t want me to run. “When you’re on the verge of death, you’ll reach for me, accepting my strength and allowing me to hold you to life. And once I have such a tenacious hold on you, I won’t let you go. No matter how much pain you experience. I’ll share it with you, take it from you if I can, soothe you with my love if I can’t.”
“You love me?” Why I latch on to the most unimportant part of this whole conversation is beyond my comprehension. Uri’s willing to spend eternity with me. If that’s not love, it will be. There’s no way to walk through the years ahead without the strong tie. We’ll form that bond. Of that, I’m one hundred percent positive.
Uri pushes to his hands and knees in a lithe move that reminds me of the cats he holds within his body and soul and closes the distance between us in a slow stalking that leaves me panting and ready for his possession once more.
Uri sits back on his bent legs, with his knees touching mine, and rests his hands on his thighs. “I admire you. I respect you. I’m in awe of your compassion, your strength, your determination to keep fighting even when life
turns ugly. And I’m grateful for your patience and perseverance. Without those, I would’ve allowed my guilt to keep me in the dark, huddling under some misconstrued notion that I should suffer for something I had no control over, when in reality, I should’ve kept my promise to my twin—help him view the world differently, to live on his own, to embrace the fate the goddess handed him. I will now. You’ll help me. Won’t you, baby? You’ll help me be the man I should’ve always been. If that’s love, then I love you with everything I am.”
And this is why I’m falling in love with this man—this walking sex god who was made for me. He’s humble and honorable and trustworthy. He’s a straight shooter I can’t help but be proud to call mine.
I loop my arms around Uri’s neck. “Yes, that’s love. That’s what I feel for you. Admiration, pride, gratefulness, contentment, affection, desire…everything. You’re everything that’s right in my world. You’re everything I didn’t realize I was missing until you showed me, until you lifted me up, until you made me realize I’m your perfectly imperfect match. I don’t doubt any of those things. I’m what you need, and you’re what I need. My reason for living.”
“Then you’ll spend your eternity with me?”
The hope in Uri’s voice makes me smile. This deliciously sculpted specimen of a man needs me.
Me.
I want to scream my happiness from the highest rooftop, letting every other woman know they missed out on being loved by their own sexy angel, but in the end, there’s only what my heart tells me.
Nodding, I lean close and brush my lips over Uri’s. “Yes. Tonight, tomorrow, the next day…whenever you feel I’m ready…whenever you’re ready, take my life and tie it to yours. I don’t want to spend another moment without you.”
“We’ll share a soul, yet be separate. You, me, my cats…we’ll be connected in such a way that a single thought will link us as long as we’re close enough to touch each other’s minds. It’ll be like flipping a switch. One moment, you’ll be alone in your own mind. The next, I’ll share it. Privacy will take on a new meaning. You need to be okay with that. You need to know it’s about respect as much as need. You’ll also be overcome with the urge to comfort me. And vice versa.”
“And that’s how it should be. Give and take. I won’t ever deny you my comfort just as I wouldn’t deny you my body.”
“Lyla.” Uri presses his forehead to mine. “I’m sorry I thought to ignore this thing between us or hoped it’d go away. I was a fool.”
“A fool is someone who destroys their chance at winning. You simply made me want you more.”
“Mate me.” Uri cradles my head between his hands. “Become my eternal mate. Tonight, baby.”
“Yes.” Barely a whisper, but my decision strengthens me. I nod. “Yes, Uri. Mate me. Right here. Right now.”
On a groan, Uri kisses me. His hands slide over my sides, over my stomach, over my breasts. Every inch of me ignites with the need to love this man again. I want to tumble to the bed and join us. Love each other. Dear goodness, I want to see heaven again with Uri. Ecstasy at his hands is beyond anything I could ever have imagined. I want more of the mind-blowing releases only Uri can deliver.
The sound of my door smacking into the wall yanks those desires away on a harsh gasp. Uri jerks his head to the doorway as Colin bursts in.
“Sam’s been taken.”
“What?” I lean forward, but Uri’s arm around my waist stops me from exposing my body to the man I consider a brother. “What are you talking about? Sam’s been taken where? By who?”
Deadly, wide claws punch out from Colin’s fingers, and sleek black fur covers his knuckles. “I have no clue.”
Uri turns me to him before I can demand more details, then he simply stares at me. Regret shows. Over not getting to mate me tonight? Over me having to face losing Sam again? Over something else? I don’t know, but there’s a promise in the way he gently holds my chin. The slow stroke of his thumb tells me more than I could ever ask. He’s with me. We’ll deal with whatever happens.
“Colin”—Uri addresses the man at his back while holding my gaze—“call Ella, Ezra, Kade, and Rick if you haven’t already. We’ll gather the details we know, then we’ll figure out how to get Sam back.”
And this time, I won’t be huddled in my bedroom saddled with guilt. I see that promise in Uri’s eyes. We’ll get my sister back…together.
Twenty-Nine
Uri
With my white hair pulled up in what Rick refers to as a man bun and hidden under the beanie, I pop in the colored contacts masking my unnatural eyes and rush out of Lyla’s bedroom and down the stairs. Raised voices greet me: Colin, Lyla, and…
Sasha.
A curse word rolls off my tongue. I leap over the banister as Lyla screams, “Izzy did what?”
Both shifters and Lyla turn as I round the corner of the kitchen. Sasha meets my gaze and answers Lyla. “She tricked her. They’re not following up on a lead. Izzy’s going to trade her for the box of her mother’s belongings Cedric stole when he had her kicked out of her apartment.”
Lyla rushes forward and shoves against Sasha’s shoulder. Her chest heaves. “Izzy’s going to trade my sister for a box of…of stuff!”
“Yes, I believe that’s what I said. Stuff.” Sasha shrugs. “Pictures, dolls Nina made out of things she’s collected, letters she’s been allowed to send Izzy, a lock of Nina’s hair, and other…stuff. It’s part of how they control her. If Nina’s good, she’s allowed to send Izzy something.”
Colin rams his fist into the stainless steel refrigerator, leaving a massive dent in the side, then grabs the door and rips it off, flinging it across the room. Claws slip free and blend with his nails, and black hair sprouts over his knuckles and up his arms as his shirt rips and his shoulders hunch. He balls his hand, digging his own claws into his palm, and smacks it against the counter, cracking the marble but stopping his slip into his werejaguar form. “I told Sam I didn’t want her working with Izzy. My cat didn’t like her, and I didn’t trust her.”
“Well, I did.” Lyla looks from me to Sasha. “Why would she do this?”
“And that’s your mistake.” Sasha holds up a finger, stopping Lyla from saying anything else. “You trusted her. What did I tell you about the kind of friends you find in the slums, Lyla?”
“But Izzy is—”
“They’re the kind of people who are only nice to you if they can use you to get what they want.” Sasha answers the question he asked of Lyla. “And that’s what Izzy did. She used you. She used Sam. And you have nobody to blame but yourself for that.”
Colin grabs Sasha from behind and presses the points of one hand into his neck and the other over his chest. “Lyla is not to blame. Sam is not to blame. That bitch who’s passed herself off as an agent is. Where is she? Where did Izzy take Sam?”
In a move even I can barely follow, Sasha bends forward, whipping Colin over his head to crash into the table. Colin jumps up, but Sasha raises his hand in a “just wait” gesture. “That bitch is doing the job assigned to her by the Shifter Council and approved by Shifter Affairs: get Nina Alexander out of the enemies’ hands and into ours. At any cost.”
“Why the urgency to free my pride mate?” Not only is Nina just one of thousands of lost women, she’s essentially useless to the council of shifters that acts as the governing body of our world. Her breeding partner—the only male who can impregnate her—was killed last summer. “A female who can no longer conceive is considered worthless by our mighty council whether she’s your true mate or not.”
With a smile that’s not quite feral and not quite sane, Sasha glances from me to Lyla. “They underestimated her. Everyone underestimated her, especially the witches and warlocks who experimented on her.”
“How so?” Because I’m not sure there’s anything that’d justify betraying an innocent.
“Nina went through a fertile cycle last month.”
“Even though her breeding partner died last yea
r?” I ask at the same time as Colin asks, “How is that possible?”
“Like I said, they underestimated my true mate and forgot what they held captive.” Pure satisfaction paints itself over Sasha’s expression. “A shamanka. Nina watched. She listened. And she learned.”
“And became something even her captors couldn’t fathom.” Which explains the desperation to get Nina back from both the human and shifter governments.
“Yes.” Sasha wets his lips. “They failed to bind her to another breeding partner, but they’ll keep trying. We need to get her back before they succeed.”
Colin curses and advances on the ancient male. “We don’t have to do a thing. If your true mate is so powerful, why hasn’t she saved herself?”
And just like that, Sasha’s earlier satisfaction dims as if a cloud has descended over him. “They have her children.”
I sigh. “And a mother will take on the world to protect her offspring.”
Sasha dips his head on a slight nod.
“Nina is not more important than Sam. Neither are Nina’s kids. Neither are you!” Colin rams the heel of his hand into Sasha’s shoulder, knocking him back a step. “I don’t care how special she is or what’s keeping her with those cowards. Sam is not expendable!”
Sasha leans into Colin’s outstretched arm. “Why do you think I’m here?”
“I’m sorry about Nina and her situation, but we’re wasting time.” Lyla moves around the refrigerator door lying in the middle of the kitchen and steps next to me. “Tell us where Izzy took Sam.”
“The bridge before the island.” Sasha pulls his keys out and heads to the kitchen door. “Hope you get her back. Broken or not, she could be a warrior if given the chance. That girl’s got fire in her soul.”
Colin grabs a set of keys from the rack on the way and rushes for the door. I spin him with a hard whack against his shoulder before he can walk out. “You are not going alone.”