He was surprised by the turn of the Darkness’ thoughts, but he could feel the truth of what it had said rising, deep inside him. And suddenly, he was seeing Morganna as he’d never seen her before.
Her hair lifted in the fae wind that whipped around her. Beautiful. She was beautiful like that. Luminous with power.
She stopped, something coming over her face as her gaze raked over him too. A glow lit her eyes and she licked her lips. Then she was moving towards him, hips swaying.
Fuck, she was hot. His gaze ran over her, wanting, needing. He saw a mirroring expression cross her face. She felt it too.
Her eyes returned to their usual colour, glittering with desire. ‘Perhaps you did know your twin would do what she did.’ She moved, oh so slowly, seductively, towards him. ‘Perhaps you planned it that way, to allow her to get away, to allow her to fully tap into her powers to bring yours fully to the fore.’ She was standing before him now, lifted her hand and ran her finger along his chest. ‘It’s what I would have done.’
He could hardly think, but the Darkness whispered words in his ears and he let them come out of his mouth, pushing her, provocative. ‘Maybe I would have done that—if I’d known she had it in her. I didn’t. She surprised us both.’
She bit her lip, her gaze flickering to his lips and back up to meet his gaze again. ‘But still, you won something out of that night. What did I get, aside from disappointment and a rather nasty headache that took a week to subside?’
He hooked his arm behind her and pulled her up flush against him. ‘You got an equal partner, rather than an underling.’
She licked her lips, gaze roving down to his lips again. ‘Did I?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then prove it.’
‘I will.’ The Darkness didn’t have to say anything to let him know what he had to do. He felt it now, that driving need to take, to have, to spill himself inside her, creating something new. Something whole out of the disparate parts they’d become.
He pulled her closer and kissed her, feeling her smile blossom under his lips. She knew it too. He could feel it in the way her hands clenched on his shoulders, the way she dragged those hands up his neck to wind her fingers in his hair, pulling, a little tantalising hit of pain that made his balls tighten, his cock flex. He wanted to give her a little taste of that back. Wanted to taste her. ‘Open your mouth.’
‘No.’
He bit her lip. She groaned. Opened to him. He thrust his tongue inside her mouth. Her tongue met his, duelling, tasting, sucking, teeth nipping. The little stings of pain as her hands left his hair, fingernails raking over his bare arms, and tore through his shirt, drove the heated rage of desire inside him higher.
Yes. Yes. Take her. Make her yours. Bind her to you with your seed.
Yes. That’s what he had to do. She seemed to want that too, one of her hands dropping to undo his jeans, shove inside and clench around his cock.
‘Yes.’
He held her tighter, closer, rubbed his engorged cock in her hand as she pressed her breasts against his chest, nipples hard nubs through the silk of her shirt. He pulled his mouth from hers, hissing as she caught his lip between her teeth before letting go. He tasted blood. She smiled, licking his blood from her mouth.
He ripped her shirt open, shoved her back against the table, and tore her bra away. ‘Mine.’ He took her nipple in his mouth, biting down like she’d bit him, tasted blood, lapped it up with his tongue. She groaned. He tore at the button on her jeans, shoved his hand down, spearing his fingers through damp curls and then deep inside her as he took her other breast in his mouth and bit down. She screamed, a scream of impassioned delight, jerking against him, riding his hand.
‘Yes.’
The sound of her cry drove him higher, drove him on. He wanted to mark her more than he had. Wanted her to know that she was his, just like he was hers.
Put your seed inside her.
Yes.
Her nails scored down his back—his shirt gone. He wasn’t sure when. Didn’t care. Except for the fact that there was still too much material between them. He muttered a spell and the clothing dissolved.
She looked down her body at him, a wicked smile on her face. ‘Clever boy.’
‘I’m a man, not a boy.’
The smile grew larger as her gaze dropped to his engorged cock. ‘Mmm. That remains to be seen.’ She ran a finger down his chest, towards the cock that ached for more than the touch of her hand.
‘Shall I prove it to you, then?’
‘If you can.’
He pushed her legs wide, pulled her forward on the table and thrust inside her. She arched off the table, head thrown back, breasts high, nipples extended, mouth open on a silent gasp. She was wet. So wet. Wet for him, her body pulsing around him, begging for more. He thrust again.
‘Yes,’ she gasped. ‘More.’
He thrust again, again, harder and harder. She rose up, legs gripped tight around him, hands in his hair, pulling, her lips at his neck, licking, sucking, nipping. Fuck! He was going to come if she didn’t stop doing that and he didn’t want to do that yet.
Use your magic to maintain control. Twine it with hers.
His magic was already rising through his skin so it was nothing to bring it forth and make it do what the Darkness bid.
Morrigan gasped as his power stroked over hers. ‘Oh, don’t stop. Don’t stop.’
He shoved her back on the table, hard. She laughed up at him, breasts bouncing with the movement. He shoved into her, harder, harder, took her breast in his mouth, lathing the pebbled nipple with his tongue, nipping it between his teeth, sucking. He speared his fingers into her wet curls again while pounding into her, and began to rub his thumb against the nub of her clitoris. ‘I love a man who can multitask,’ she gasped, the gasp turning into a scream as he worked her harder, faster, taking her higher, higher. Their power sizzled and crackled around them, making the joining more, stronger, deeper, special in a way he’d never experienced before and he was pretty certain she’d never experienced either going by the way she was looking at him.
Her back arched, skin slick. As was his. She was panting, gasping, whimpering, as he worked her body with everything he had in him. She was his. She was his. And he was making a connection between them that would never fade. That would grow and develop inside her body, and when it came forth, it would be his to mould in any way he saw fit, in a way his twin could never have been his to mould, and it would never leave him. Not like the others had. Not like he knew Morrigan eventually would despite what he was about to build between them, for them. He was giving her a gift, and she would give one back to him. One the Darkness promised.
He would never be alone again.
Yes, yes.
‘More. More.’
‘Mine. Mine.’
The words—the Darkness’, Morrigan’s, his—wove around him, around them, binding them to each other, sinking into their skin. They rose above the table, hanging in the air, their power twining and spinning around them, a physical extension of their passion, their connection.
Then Morrigan clenched, her body arching high against him, almost pushing him off. He drove into her one last time, seated as deep as he could get. His cry met hers. Lifted, rising to the ceiling, making the world tremble. Her body clenched around him as he came, milking him of his precious seed. And it kept coming and coming, rising with their cry, a magical incantation, sealing the promise of their binding, of what was to come, into their skin, their very souls. A binding that would never let them go until they’d seen it to its very end.
At last!
The Darkness’ cry joined theirs and drove him into oblivion.
Chapter 9
‘Cain!’ Eloise came out of her seat, the sound of smashing crockery and clang of cutlery a distant noise.
‘Eloise? Eloise? What’s wrong?’ Hands took hers, ran up to her shoulders, cupped her face. Lips touched hers. A touch she knew. Wanted. Warmth chased the chill away and
she leaned into the kiss, returning it.
There was a groan and then the lips pulled from hers. ‘Eloise? Talk to me, Little Bird.’
She blinked, looked up. ‘Iain.’ The smile bloomed, automatically, on her face.
His lips—those full lips she adored, the lips she wanted back on hers—didn’t form into an answering smile, but remained in a serious line. As serious as the frown between his brow.
She reached up, rubbed at that frown with her thumb. ‘Why are you frowning?’
‘Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you leapt from your chair, dropped your plate on the floor and cried out, “Cain”.’
‘I did?’
‘Yes. And then you wouldn’t answer me when I asked what was wrong.’
‘So you kissed me.’
‘It always worked in the past to bring you back when Bridgette took you over.’
‘Bridgette isn’t here.’ He looked questioningly at her. ‘Well, she is, but not more than usual. You know.’
He did know. She knew he felt Malcolm inside him—the past presence that had soul-mated with Bridgette Colliere, tying his human and Were souls and Bridgette’s human soul together from that time for eternity. Those souls had been reborn inside Iain and Eloise, and had helped them to come together. The past presences weren’t the only thing that had drawn them to each other. Even without Malcolm and Bridgette inside them, Eloise and Iain would have chosen each other. Choice was always the most important thing in a mating. And while the past presences still made themselves felt on occasion, today wasn’t one of those times.
Iain drew in a breath, careful, measured. ‘Okay. Then what happened?’
‘I don’t know.’ Eloise frowned. She was light-headed. And there was something there in the back of her mind. Something that made her nervous, nauseous. ‘I think I need to sit down.’
He led her over to the couch and sat beside her, not letting go of her hands. ‘Better?’
She swallowed. ‘Yep.’
‘Liar.’
She smiled at him. ‘Maybe. A little.’ She rubbed at his frown again. ‘I don’t like you worrying.’
‘I know. But worrying is warranted when you scream your brother’s name and fade out for a moment.’
‘Right.’ She’d screamed her brother’s name. Why? Images swirled in her mind, but she couldn’t grab a hold of them, just knew they made her feel edgy, sick. ‘I felt something.’
Iain stroked her hand—it was trembling. ‘I thought you’d broken the link with him.’
She shook her head slowly. ‘I thought I did too. But maybe that was just a surface link, created by Morrigan and the Darkness, and when I rejected them, I broke the link they were using to control me and my powers. But he is my twin. We’ve probably got a deeper bond that can’t be truly broken.’ Her frown deepened. ‘I’ve been having flashes of him ever since, a sense that he was there still.’
‘Why didn’t you say something?’
She shrugged. ‘At first I thought maybe it was like a phantom-limb syndrome. But then when I realised it might be more, there seemed to be nothing worth worrying over. I never saw anything that could help and he never spoke to me, never even tried. His attention hasn’t even been turned my way—at least, that’s what it felt like. The connection was one sided, me seeing him, not the other way around. Maybe it was my power letting me do it, or just the twin bond that was still important to me, but not important to him.’ Her voice hitched, the pain of that acknowledgement a deep cut in her heart. He stroked her hair, her cheek, down her arm, giving her time to pull herself together. She loved that he knew her so well. She tried to concentrate on the images swirling in her mind. ‘I can’t even really see him. It’s like a damaged film, the images flickering and distorted. I can’t make sense of them.’
‘But you must have seen something. Enough to make you shout his name and drop what you were doing.’
‘Yes.’ She rubbed her chest. There was a pain there, like she hadn’t taken a breath in too long. And she still felt nauseated. ‘He was with Morrigan. He was angry. I could see that much. And then it changed and …’ She swallowed hard against the bile in her throat.
‘What did you see?’
‘I think …’ Her face screwed up. ‘I think they were having sex.’
‘Ew.’ He rubbed her arms. ‘I’m sorry you had to see that.’
‘It was only a flash. I might have got it completely wrong. Sex was never part of their relationship before. It was more mother and son. They could have been doing some ritual.’ But she knew it wasn’t. ‘Whatever it was, it didn’t feel good.’
‘When is it ever good where he’s concerned?’ He hugged her to him. ‘I can understand why you dropped your plate and cried out. Seeing your brother have sex with Morrigan.’ He shuddered. ‘I’m surprised you didn’t lose your breakfast.’
She knew he was trying to make her smile, but the more she thought about what she’d seen, what she felt, the less she felt like laughing. She pulled away. ‘No.’
‘Eloise? What is it?’
‘I don’t know.’ She rubbed her chest harder. She really felt like she couldn’t breathe. ‘This is different from what I’ve felt before. He was always still himself, tinged with the Darkness. But now …’ She gasped, her hands clutching at him as she realised what she’d felt, what she’d seen, the reason for the horrible ache in her chest. ‘He’s given himself over to it. All of himself.’ Tears began to pour down her face. ‘He’s gone. He’s gone. My brother is gone.’
The sobs tore out of her as Iain pulled her into his arms, hands running over her hair, down her back, in long soothing strokes. ‘I’m so sorry, Eloise. I’m so sorry.’ He let her cry herself out, his hand constantly stroking, the warmth of him spilling into her slowly, not ridding her of the cold ache of grief, but making it feel a little less chilling. She thought she’d come to terms with what Cain had chosen, what he’d done, the fact that he was now her enemy. But obviously, in some part of her mind, she’d held onto hope, denied that she’d felt this final change begin the night she fully mated with Iain.
Now that hope was gone. Cain was gone. Completely subsumed by the Darkness.
He pulled back a little, enough to wipe the tears from her cheeks, kiss her forehead. ‘Your loss will lessen with time.’
‘I know. This … it’s not grief. Not really. It’s the shock of what he’s done. It’s worse than when he made himself a Shade at Morrigan’s behest. He was dangerous before—now he’s worse. So much worse. He’s evil now. Truly evil.’ She pushed to her feet. ‘We have to go tell the others. We have to prepare.’
‘We’re always prepared, ever since Morrigan came after us.’
‘No, this is different. He is so much worse than Morrigan. She is fuelled by revenge. That can be overcome. But what Cain is now … it won’t stop. Ever. Until it gets what it wants.’
‘We’ve defeated the Darkness before. Bron expelled it from River. You pushed it out of yourself and broke its connection with you on Ostara. We can fight it again.’
She gripped his arms, fingernails digging in. ‘No. You don’t understand. What I felt in Cain, it’s so much more powerful than anything we’ve gone up against before. Those were just small parts. Bits of the thing that Bridgette repeatedly expelled from the Were all those centuries ago. This is like … this is like it’s becoming again what it once was. And it’s not content with just taking over Cain completely, taking him from me forever.’ Her gaze clashed with his. ‘It wants us all. And tonight, it’s done something that will help it reach its goal.’
His throat moved convulsively as he took in what she said. ‘Then we need to find out what that is.’
‘How?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Should we look in the diaries?’
He rubbed his thumb against his chin. ‘No. Shelley and others are taking care of that. I think we need to look at this from a different angle. I think we’ve overlooked a major piece of the puzzle.’
; ‘What?’
‘You.’ He cupped her face, the warmth of his hand and his gaze chasing away the chill his words brought on. ‘You are the Nexus. We’ve been looking into what that might mean, but we haven’t looked at why. Why you. Where did that power come from? Are you the only one in your family with this power, or were there others? And why did Morrigan and the Darkness target you and your family and steal you from them?’
‘But how will we find any of that out?’
‘We need to find out what happened to your family, who they were, where they came from. We might find the answers we need.’
‘Or we might find nothing. Morrigan most likely murdered all my family when she took me and Cain.’
‘We don’t know that,’ he said, cupping her chin. ‘But I think it’s important we find out for certain.’
She’d always wanted to know who her people were, where she came from, learn about her shifter heritage from those with blood ties to her. But now the thought that she would actually get the answers seemed one of the most frightening things she’d ever faced. ‘I’m scared.’
‘I know.’ He kissed her, a soft kiss, full of love, support and encouragement.
It reminded her who she was now, not who she’d been. She was the only one who could tame the restless heart of a Lone Wolf, the only one who could add a fourth dimension to the powers of the triumvirate that was the McVale Coven—whatever that meant. They still didn’t know. What she did know was her being here had strengthened the bonds in the pack in ways they were still discovering. She made them stronger. She was the Nexus. She must face her past to face her future. ‘Let’s do it.’
‘That’s my girl.’ Iain kissed her again.
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