by R. R. Banks
“Still no luck in finding her?”
“No and she’s giving up.”
Ero shrugged. “A real mate wouldn’t.”
It was the wrong thing to say. Ciyrs glared at him and in one swift move held him in the air by his throat.
“You stupid fucker. You need to learn to keep your damn mouth shut. She is my fucking mate. How dare you!”
Ero struggled in his grasp but Ciyrs was gone. All the control he held over the years and he broke. His hand heated up and his warrior friend screamed.
He wasn’t aware of anything after. He blacked out and when he opened his eyes he tugged at his arms. He was restrained to a bed. “What the hell?”
Pyra came into view, then Eden. Her face was streaked with tears. “What’s wrong baby doll?”
“You don’t remember?”
“Uh—help me out here, because I so obviously don’t know what’s going on. Why the hell am I being restrained?”
“Ciyrs you injured Ero badly.”
He shook his head. “No I wouldn’t do that. He can be an ass, but we all know why.”
“You did. I had to heal his wounds. I don’t know what you did, but his flesh around his neck was burned, like he was in a fire.”
Realization dawned on his then. He didn’t remember but he remembered the feelings. “Oh fuck.”
“Where is he? I have to apologize. He just made me snap, I know that much. I healed him, and then he made a comment about Eliana not being a real mate and I lost it.”
“Fucking shit, he knows better by now. No wonder you lost it, but how the hell did you burn him?”
“I seem to have gotten a new power. One I’m not sure will be good until I get a handle on my temper.”
Eden tensed. “What kind of power?”
“Not the good kind baby doll. At least if it’s used on friends.” Ciyrs shook his head. “I am two different people now. A part of me heals and the other part of me destroys. I’m torn between good and bad and I have no fucking idea what to do. I need Eliana, I need my fucking mate.” Then he broke down and sobbed. Eden climbed on the bed and wrapped her arms around him pulling him close.
“Shh, we’ll find her. I don’t know how but we will.”
“It’s no use. I don’t feel her anymore.”
Eden pulled back and her brows knitted together. “I do.”
“What?” He felt a bit of hope.
“Yeah she isn’t doing well, but she’s still alive.”
“Don’t fuck with me baby doll.”
“Hey don’t!” Pyra growled.
“Oh calm down he’s just excited.” She brushed his tears away. “She’s alive. I bet she shut you out. Probably not on purpose either. I think it’s time I reached out again.”
He shook his head. “But the baby. I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not. But I’m doing it. We need her back. I won’t be able to go on feeling your suffering on a daily basis Ciyrs. Your pain is my pain.”
He nodded understanding because she understood what he went through. Her pain was his too.
He looked at Pyra who growled. “Like I have a choice. She won’t listen to me.”
Ciyrs had to bite back a smile. Eden was a stubborn woman, and he knew she was the key to finding Eliana, or so he hoped.
Chapter 10
“It’s no use. They won’t find you. I told you we’re smarter than them. We can block them.”
I sighed and let my head fall back. I had been trying to get a message out. But it was like there was a block. My messages weren’t getting out. “Why? I don’t have the answers you’re looking for. Can’t you just let me go?”
He laughed and his eyes burned brighter. “We’ve already established that I’m not stupid and you want me to send you back?”
“It’s not like I’d be able to tell them where I was. I’ve seen nothing but your freaky eyes and darkness for days.”
He backhanded me and I tasted blood, but I was done playing his fucking game. I stood on wobbly feet and fisted my hands. I felt the end was near, and I wasn’t going down without one hell of a fight. If I didn’t get to live to see my mate again I was going to make this Klimnu bastard pay.
He stood back relaxed and amused by the look of his smile. I focused on Ciyrs and his love for me. I knew he loved me. It didn’t matter how little time we’d known one another. It was true, and it was as real as the beat of my heart. His orange eyes stared back at me and I gasped. It was that damned illusion again.
“You could never be him.”
“Oh but I can,” he said and gripped my hips and ground his creepy ass erection against my stomach.
I shuddered and spit on his face. “You’re not even a fourth of the man as Ciyrs and you make me sick you creepy bastard.”
He wiped the spit from his cheek and let me go laughing. “You think that’s going to upset me?” I stared as he licked my spit from his bony fingers. EW. I shook my head and shuddered.
I was losing my damned mind. My body shook with a rage I had never felt before and my arms to the tips of my fingers heated and when I lifted my arm they glowed red. “Holy shit!”
The Klimnu stared frozen in shock for a few seconds before he stepped back. “What are you?” He tilted his head seemingly entranced by the glow of my body.
“I’m nothing.” But at that moment I certainly was something. I focused more and the heat burned stronger. I broke out in a sweat and stalked towards the monster who figured out he might have been in a little bit of trouble. I narrowed my eyes and wrapped my small hand around his tiny throat. His eyes widened and his mouth opened and he let out a wail that shot straight to my head. It pierced my ears and I couldn’t stop the pain reverberating through my body. I screamed too and tightened my hold on the monster who stole me away from my new home. I would not give up.
The smell of burning flesh filled my nose and my eyes watered. His body struggled helplessly against me. His body lost its strength as I sucked his life away. That’s what I was doing, I was taking his life.
After his eyes rolled back into his skull I dropped his bones to the ground. They shattered into a pile of dust and I looked at my hand. It no longer glowed, but his ash covered my hands. I wiped them on my jeans and took a deep breath.
“What the hell happened?” I asked, but there was no one there to answer me.
I bent and dug through the pile of ash and found the keys he used to lock me inside. Feeling around for the door I gripped the cool metal of the door and sighed. Pulling it open, I waited for others to come, but it was silent, and I tiptoed down a dimly lit hall. The light was bright to my eyes. When I made it to the end of the hall I looked both ways wondering which way was right. I shook my head and went left hoping for the best. I needed to get out of this place, and I needed my mate. I needed Ciyrs.
(To be Continued in Part IV… )
Book 4 – Healed by Gentle Alien
Chapter 1
Ciyrs shot up from bed. After days, the king had forced him to rest. He finally fell asleep until the dream. He blinked his eyes and looked around his room. The sun had risen and peaked around the corners of his curtains. After Eden had tried and failed to reach out to Eliana, he had all but given up. If he couldn’t sense her, he couldn’t find her. The warriors were out searching for her, but so far nothing.
He jumped up when he heard a loud banging on the door. “Ciyrs you fucker get up!”
He groaned when he heard Gyyx yelling outside and he ran to the door wondering if something had happened. He pulled open the door and frowned. Gyyx stood on his porch heaving and his eyes were orange. “You’re mate—I think I might have found her—the general area she is in anyways.”
He stared at Pyra’s younger brother and couldn’t get over how much they looked alike. The long white Mohawk, the blue eyes that were orange at the moment. He was huge but not as big as his older brother. Wait did he just say he might have found her? In a moment too quick to stop, he wrapped his hand gripping the
shirt Gyyx wore and lifted him off the ground.
“Where?”
“What the hell Ciyrs? Put me down you asshole.”
“Shit, sorry. I seem to be changing.”
Gyyx chuckled and smoothed his shirt out. “Apparently. But anyways, for the past day and a half, some of us have been searching further out looking for your lady. And now I’m reacting just like my brother. My eyes shift, and I’m hard as shit. Basically I am pretty sure she’s my mate too—”
Ciyrs roared. “No way. She’s mine. You’re mistaken.”
“Why the hell am I freaking out then?”
Ciyrs’s eyes widened. “Maybe your mate is here. These Klimnu seem to be pretty good at getting on our land. What’s to say they haven’t intercepted visitors?”
Gyyx’s jaw clenched. “So what you’re saying is—my mate could have already been taken by those slimy bastards, and I’m just now figuring it out?”
“Yeah sounds plausible.”
“Shit, I’m already a terrible mate. She’s gonna hate me.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. I didn’t know what was going on until Pyra laughed at my temper.”
“But shouldn’t I have sensed her?”
“Not if she hasn’t been here long. She’s got to be close.”
“And I have a feeling where we find your Elaina, I’ll find my mate. Unless Elaina is meant for both of us.”
Ciyrs’s hand glowed red and he held back from killing the man before him. He had to remember he was a friend. “No, she’s only meant to be mine.”
Gyyx backed away with his hands up in surrender. “So fucker lets go find our women. You are connected to your mate already I’m not. We need to find them and then figure out how the hell the Klimnu are taking our women.”
“Let’s go,” Ciyrs replied. The sooner he found Elaina the sooner he could really sleep, and next time he wouldn’t let go of her. She wasn’t leaving his sight—ever again.
Gyyx led the way slowing to a normal speed so Ciyrs could keep up. He was grateful because even though he learned he had warrior abilities he still wasn’t a warrior, he was a healer.
“Where did you get a sense that—” Ciyrs said and froze when a vision of Eliana slammed into him.
She ran frantically through the maze of halls. Her feet were dirty, and she ignored the rocks beneath her soles. The pain of something sharp imbedded into her foot and she sucked in a breath but kept moving. She had to get away. She shoved her hair out of her face and bit her lip tasting the copper of her blood. She hurt everywhere, but she couldn’t stop moving. She didn’t know when more would come. She didn’t know how she turned the one to ash. She was a freak. Tears slid down her cheeks, but still she kept moving.
The sound of sobbing startled her and Eliana froze looking wildly into the darkness. Her eyes had finally adjusted and she could make out a shaking figure. Red flags rose and she was about to keep moving until she heard the mere whisper, “help me.”
Eliana was scared, but she edged her way closer to the figure. When she stood over the prone woman she gasped. The woman was rail thin and pale. She had bite marks all over her body and she wore only a bra and panties. Her ribs poked out of her side and the stench filled her nose. She did her best not to gag, but this woman had been there for a while.
“You’re not one of them?”
The woman didn’t speak but she saw the slight shake to her head.
“You better not be,” she grumbled and bent to lift the woman.
She shrieked and her body shook before she stopped moving all together. Eliana felt for a pulse and sighed when she realized the woman was unconscious. Lifting her from the ground the best she could, she half carried and half dragged the woman from the small prison. Taking a deep breath she sent out a prayer that she would find the damn exit.
“I found her; she has a woman with her.”
Gyyx froze and spun to look at him. “A woman?” his eyes shifted to orange.
“Yeah, she’s unconscious, sick, injured, but alive. Eliana is bringing her out. They’re at the old warehouse. The one that was supposed to be torn down. How the hell did we miss it?”
They ran using their speed. For the first time Ciyrs used all the things he locked up inside. He had no idea what they would come across on the way, but right now there were two women who needed him. One needed some major healing and the other—well she just needed him.
Chapter 2
She was getting heavy, and I was tiring out, but I couldn’t stop. Not until I found my way out. Everything hurt. I’d never been more tired, but my will to survive was stronger than my need to rest. I pushed through, but ran into another dead in. I screamed in frustration and tried to keep my tears locked up tight, but I was slowly falling apart. Who the hell created a maze like this?
I sobbed and fell to the ground with my arms wrapped around the strange woman. I let out all of my fears and allowed myself time to cry. Then I’d pick myself back up and find my way out. I rocked back and forth holding tight to the only other person around—and she wasn’t even conscious.
I screamed when hands wrapped around my arm pulling me up from the ground. I kicked and tried to get away but the arms tightened holding me against a hard warm body. I couldn’t be taken—not again. I wouldn’t survive it again.
“Baby, calm down, it’s me.”
I froze and opened my eyes. Looking back at me were orange eyes ringed in dark circles. “Ciyrs?”
“Fucking hell baby, I’m so sorry!” Then he buried his face into my neck.
I didn’t have any fear it wasn’t him. His touch was right. I relaxed my body into his and then pulled back remembering the woman I’d found. “The woman, she’s hurt.”
Ciyrs looked down at the prone woman to see Gyyx pull her into his arms. His eyes were orange and a tear slid down his cheek.
“She’s mine. You were right.”
I slid down Ciyrs’s body ignoring his protest and fell to the floor. “She’s been out the whole time. Except at first. I don’t know what happened. I guess the shock finally wore off.”
Gyyx looked at me with his eye shining. “Thank you for taking her with you. Most people wouldn’t do that.”
I laid my hand on his and in a split second I was whipped away. Ciyrs growled. “You can’t touch him right now baby. I’m already going crazy.”
“He’s hurting. Look at him.”
“He’ll be fine as soon as we get back and I work on his mate. Better yet Eden will. He won’t want to rip her head off. I probably can’t get near her.”
“I know you won’t do anything Ciyrs, let’s get the hell out of here. We’ll tell the others to patrol here until we can burn this fucking building to the ground.”
I wrapped my arms around Ciyrs and shut my eyes as he sped from my own personal hell. I’d make sure this building burned. No one would suffer in those cells again. I looked at Gyyx and the woman I had found. She probably knew better than anyone else what is was like to be in their hands. It looked like she had been there for a while. The poor woman was rail thin and sickly looking. But I could tell by the look in the Denynso’s eyes that she was the most beautiful creature to him. It was the way Ciyrs looked at me.
With my head on his shoulder, I felt the cool rush of air as the wind whipped around us. He ran fast and I was grateful when I opened my eyes to find myself in his house. He kissed me and held me close while I sobbed. There were so many things to talk about, but all I wanted to do was fall apart and clean the Klimnu off of me.
“I tried finding you, and I failed. Eden tried to use her connection to help. She felt you but couldn’t figure out where you were. The warriors have been searching nonstop. I’m so sorry I failed you.” Ciyrs fell to his knees in front of me.
I placed my hand on his head. He had his arms wrapped tightly around my waist and he sobbed. I did my best to comfort him. “Oh Ciyrs, you didn’t fail me.”
He tipped his head up looking at me. I wiped his tears. “It’s not your
fault I was taken.”
“I should have known. We’re mates. Our bond was formed.”
“Newly mated. Who knows how long it takes for it to really click. I don’t blame you.”
He nodded, but I could tell he wasn’t convinced. “I need to get cleaned up.”
Reluctantly he pulled away and gripped my hand like a life line as he led me to his bathroom. Without a word he turned on the shower and then he pulled off my clothes. I shivered when I was naked and didn’t miss the way his eyes glowed.
“Can I help?”
I nodded and nibbled my lip. I needed his closeness. No matter how dirty I felt.
He stripped off his clothes and led me into the shower. The warmth of the water eased the aches and pains and washed away the dirt, but it didn’t wash away the memory of the touch. I closed my eyes and Ciyrs spun me around. In a few moments I felt his hands in my hair lathering in some shampoo and then he tipped my head back rinsing my hair. I let him take care of me. I knew he needed it. He was a care giver. It’s what he did. He healed, and when his large hands stroked my body gently with the sudsy cloth he healed a part of me. I knew his touch. I knew he would never hurt me.
After all that had happened, I felt the ache between my legs. I couldn’t control the desire building and I turned facing him. He tensed when he scented my arousal and shook his head.
“I’d love to but I need to take care of you first.”
“But that is taking care of me.” I picked up his hand and brought it between my legs spreading them, allowing him to feel the wetness. “I need you. And I know you need me.”
His erection sprung to life and I wrapped my small hand around it. “See, you want me.”
He groaned when I slid my slick hand down and ran my thumb over the tip. “Of course I do Eliana. I’ve missed you like hell. I’ve nearly gone insane without you.”
I licked my lip. “Then show me.”
I needed to get my mind off of it all, and there was no better way than to lose myself in the man I loved—loved, that was the first time I admitted it to myself. I loved Ciyrs.