The anger rolled off Ronin in waves. The power spread over the entire area, thickening the air with it. A soft smile formed. She couldn’t help it, he was attractive as hell when he was mad. All she wanted was to have him take her back to the house.
She closed her eyes, trying to rein in her desire. When she opened them, he was in front of her, staring at her. She gasped and stepped back, but he held her arms. “I understand that.” A soft laugh escaped her. “I just don’t care.”
Ronin tightened his grip. “You need to take this serious.”
Hope couldn’t focus on anything, but Ronin and the touch of his body against hers. He engulfed her, standing so close and it intoxicated her. His pupils dilated, sensing her desire.
“I do, but I also know you. Every day your strength increases. I don’t fear what Darrok is capable of because we’re stronger than him. I don’t know how, but you healed me. Even the mark under my neck disappeared, hadn’t you noticed? I think that’s what held me back. My fear.” She reached up and touched his cheek. “I also know that nothing on this earth can get between us anymore. You can destroy this world to protect me and the child I carry. Why do you think I am so in love with you?”
Ronin watched her for a long time. She thought for sure he would tell her off. A moment later he kissed her. Pleasure swamped her body and his grip let up, only so he could wrap an arm around her waist and press her closer.
When he could bring himself to release her, he said, “I’m beginning to believe it’s that stubborn daughter you carry that this world has been waiting for.”
Hope shook her head, smiling. “And why is that? Don’t want to share me?”
Ronin’s eyes darkened. “No. But it’s because she combines the best of both of us. She survived whatever they did to remove her from you. Both of us have gone through the depths of hell to meet here with one another. Through each other, we both learned to love again. To see that this place should be saved. That this world has a future. That future hides inside of you. You are the future. You are love. Pure love. I am hate, death, your other half. Between us, the most powerful being to ever exist grows inside.”
“Now who’s mister fate and destiny boy?”
“I have loved you since the first day I saw you, but I swear woman, you are the most aggravating female I have ever known.”
Hope laughed. “And you love it.”
“Doesn’t make my life boring.”
They’d been discussing their plans in-depth the entire day, but as far as Hope was concerned, it was time to have a little fun before they carried out their plans. Next, was Darrok, but first. . . .
“How do you plan to kill him sexy butt?” Ronin stared at her for a long time. “What?” She laughed.
“One, we have established that we have to work together to do it, and how. Two, that is distracting.”
“Yes, well, sorry, but when you’re vicious you’re attractive.”
“So instead of being afraid, when I change—”
“I’m turned on.”
“Hope,” Ronin growled, his voice thickening in anything but anger.
“See? I’m picturing how aggressive you can get and—”
Ronin’s eyes darkened and his power soaked through her. Desire shivered along Hope’s spine. She bit her lip. The fun was about to begin.
THIRTY NINE
HOPE AND RONIN WENT over their plans for the third time the next day. They each had their part to play. Hope hoped that when they faced Darrok, they stopped him once and for all. This world needed a better chance. With him around, that chance didn’t exist.
And so it started.
Hope stood on top of the second tallest building in Darrok’s zone, next to his personal building that he occupied, where Hope had been a prisoner. Ronin left her to go on the search for Darrok.
She waited and waited. A while had passed, and she didn’t see Ronin anywhere. She didn’t sense Darrok, either until it hit her. Power surrounded her, overtook and caged her. With a gasp she spun around.
Darrok stood behind her with a dark smile on his lips. His eyes were solid black and in the instant she acknowledged his presence, he kissed her. Desire surged forth so hard that she became helpless to the need. Darrok’s hand wrapped around the back of her head, securing her. He deepened the kiss and all fight was torn from her body.
What are you doing, Hope! Stop kissing him! her rational mind screamed as her body betrayed her. A soft moan slipped from her. Darrok growled and his kiss grew rougher, more powerful. She couldn’t stop him, didn’t want to.
The longer he kissed her, the more her energy drained, and ice filled her veins. Her body collapsed against his. Her heart pounded against her ribs, trying to demand her to stop him. Her hands shook. Underneath the fear was a desire she had no control over her, she gave in against her will. The orgasm ripped through her body and her body arced against his, only to come up against what he felt.
Darrok tightened his grip on her hair and Hope continued to scream inside. Her rational mind was at war with everything Darrok did. Half of her wanted to give into him, half of her wanted to stop him. The part of her that wanted to give in was the winning side. She couldn’t even think anymore. What was he doing? It wasn’t the attraction that was doing this. She had no control, no resistance.
Darrok’s power pressed against her and crept along like an evil second skin that inched along her body with every second that passed, solidifying around her and preventing her from fighting, numbing her to the depths of her soul, stealing everything away. Hope unconsciously pressed into his body wanting more and more, wanting him inside of her, around her, a part of her.
Darrok growled against her mouth.
No . . . it wasn’t Darrok. Darrok’s mouth ripped away from her and he let her go. Hope floated to her knees, winded, numb. Darrok whirled around to face the sound. Hope’s body was no longer her own. It didn’t cooperate with a word she said. Her brain barely functioned. Only the need to give in to Darrok filled her, and it left her sick.
Ronin stood behind them in all his full glory. Did he get bigger? Thunder and lightning clapped overhead. The wind roared around them. Hope’s attention flicked upward.
Lightning. Rain.
It happened that night she thought he had died, too. Gideon, Ronin . . . he must’ve been protecting her all this time without knowing it. The rain erased all her tracks as she crawled away from Gideon’s dead body. It was Ronin. He didn’t know he did it. He’s protected me all this time.
Darrok wasn’t bothered by the change in weather over their heads. “Been looking for me, have you?” With a side glance at Hope, he told Ronin, “She’s not yours anymore.”
Ronin’s gaze flicked to Hope and the cold eased ever so. Her fingers tingled with the feeling clawing back inside. His power soaked into her and over her like a warming blanket, safe and protective. Healing.
His gaze moved back to Darrok. “And she’s not as weak as you believe. There is far more to that woman than you will ever know. She has the strength of this world inside of her and she feeds it back out to them. What about you, Darrok?”
“Strength of the world?” Darrok huffed. “Nonsense.”
Ronin turned his attention to Hope once more and another surge of warmth swept through her system. His lips twitched, but he didn’t give in to his smile.
“You don’t seem to understand,” Ronin said to Darrok. “Here’s a school lesson for you. Hope’s energy comes from the Earth. The soul of the world exists inside that body you so believe you can overpower. She feeds off it. She doesn’t belong to you. Not anymore.”
Ronin’s attention never diverted off her. Every second he wasted was a second she regained feeling in her fingers, her arms, her chest, her legs. Darrok had sapped her strength because he stole it. The way he had been feeding off this world.
Ronin and Hope could use that against him and turn him into his own virtual bomb. Unlike her, Darrok didn’t release it. If she weakened Darrok enough and fed
it back to him, then they added in Ronin’s essence to the mix, Darrok would combust.
It was up to Ronin to get Darrok out of Zone Six, and as far into the most desolate area that he could. Ronin must have noticed the spark of recognition hit her. That time, he didn’t resist the slight smile.
Hope clenched her fingers. They responded. Next were her legs. Darrok’s attention remained on Ronin. Darrok said, “I own her, she’s helpless.”
As Hope struggled up to stand behind him, unbeknownst to Darrok, she asked, “Am I?”
Darrok flipped around and raised a hand. His intention was to hit her and send her over the edge of the building, but when his hand froze in midair, his eyes widened. The air around them electrified and crackled. The hair on the back of her neck stood as her power surged forth like the day back in the church where Jake had died, soaking from the building to her feet, filling her body.
Hope’s eyes glowed violet. For the first time in centuries, Hope let everything in. She sucked it in, fed from it, enveloped those whispers and the love they all wanted to give her. She let the light within her shine as brightly as possible.
She stopped hiding behind fear. Behind the torment. She stopped hiding from everything this world had to offer.
Hope closed the little distance that remained between her and Darrok in the same instant he raised his hand. She pressed her palms into Darrok’s chest and he bucked under her touch. She took back what he stole from her. What he stole from this entire world, then amplified it and fed it back to him.
Darrok’s arms came down to knock her hands away, but the moment his arms contacted her own, they rebounded off with a crack of energy that sent a bolt of light arcing outward. He roared. In frustration, in pain, in realization that he no longer held power over her, or anyone else.
Hope dug her nails into his chest and slammed forth every last piece of energy into Darrok, causing the air to spin around them like a vortex.
“The difference between you and me, Darrok?” she said in a soft voice, but both he and Ronin heard it clear as day above the commotion. “Is that I can use our connection against you.”
Hope’s hands shone against Darrok’s chest. The light spread outward, over them, and then along her arms. Darrok sensed her plan and struck her in the chest.
Hope didn’t expect him to still possess so much strength that he could use against her. She stumbled backward with a yelp. Ronin growled an eerie sound that stilled the entire zone. Glass shattered from every window in the block. The roof shook beneath their feet.
Hope recovered herself just as Darrok rushed forward. Ronin did the same and rushed up behind Darrok. Hope raised her hands and released her energy as a weapon.
Darrok rose his hands just in time to slam his own energy against what she threw at him. A wall of light burst between them, deflecting the deadly blow she hoped to inflict, but he didn’t expect the beast that rushed up behind him, and caught him off-guard.
The force of Hope’s strength made Darrok stumble backward into the arms of Ronin. Ronin snatched Darrok from the ground and used the one thing Darrok couldn’t fight. Ronin’s massive black wings spread wider than Hope had ever seen. Cold descended upon Darrok’s zone as Ronin released all his power. Power that now matched Darrok’s. The roof cracked under the force of Ronin’s leap. He clutched Darrok in his embrace.
Hope watched the two men rise into the air. Darrok struggled against Ronin’s hold, trying to gain freedom of his arms. The only way he could fend off Ronin, but he was no match for Ronin’s speed.
Hope focused on Darrok’s zone. There were shouts coming from below which meant Darrok’s Amaranthine Guards were coming. Electricity tingled through her body. She put her hand upon her stomach and warmth filled her.
Hope raised her hands to the sky, gathering the energy she had spent against Darrok, gathering the Earth’s energy. She brought both her arms downward in an arc. The energy she released caused a massive boom, followed by a wave that sent Darrok’s men hurtling over the edge of the building. The surge broke Darrok’s hold over the entire city. In place of that cold domination came the warmth of Hope’s. She swallowed the zone in her embrace.
Off in the distance a huge explosion swept up into the sky. The aftershock crackled in the air, over the land, and a huge wall of fire went up. The heat and power of a nuclear bomb had just exploded and was headed straight for the city . . . straight for those children who existed and Hope couldn’t have that. Whether they’d been experiments or not, they were alive now.
Hope sucked in a few lungfuls of air. She raised her arms out to the side and braced herself, risking what little strength she may have left, to protect this zone, and those children. A moment later the fire punched against her hold she kept over the zone as Darrok’s power combusted in the distance and wiped out everything that wasn’t under her protection, for many, many zones. Or as once described, hundreds of hundreds of miles.
The fire scorched her skin and burned against her. Hope cried out when the pain increased, but she swore a promise to keep those children safe. One she intended to keep. No matter what happened from here on out, she refused to allow Darrok to destroy everything good about this world.
As long as they lived, those kids had a chance. She ensured they did. Hope would protect them with her life and give them what they needed. What this world needed. Her daughter would.
Blast after blast burst against her grip and she let out a blood-curdling scream. A moment later arms slid around her waist from behind. A mouth pressed against her ear. The only sound beneath the roaring in her mind was his words. “I’m not leaving you and her. If this is it, then we go together.”
Tears made their way down Hope’s cheeks and she clenched her jaw. Ronin’s power slipped around her like a warm blanket, protecting her from the pain of the blasts, protecting their daughter from the anguish of the mother.
On and on the assaults came until Hope didn’t think she could handle anymore. Until she wasn’t sure why they continued. Darrok was more powerful in death, than ever in life. She pressed her eyelids shut, drowning everything out, but held her arms out with every stubborn ounce of strength she had.
After a long, long time, when she wasn’t sure when time began or ended, stillness overcame her.
“Open your eyes.” Ronin said.
Hope didn’t notice the pain had quit. So had the assaults.
The world became quiet. Like a night of snow had just fallen and silenced everything beneath its soft touch. The world paused. Hope opened her eyes.
The sun was beginning to peek out through the dismal sky. Warm rays of light drifted down on top of her, warming her, filling her with newfound strength. If Ronin hadn’t still been holding her, she would’ve fallen, but Ronin didn’t let her go.
He never had and he never would.
The buildings that surrounded them were trashed, but the one in the distance that held the children, was untouched and perfect. People wandered out into the streets, glancing right up at her.
A dried up flowerbox sat next to them on the roof. The smallest green bud came out of the soil beneath another ray of sun. The green tendril drifted upward, then bloomed into white petals with a yellow center.
One small daisy.
Promises to come.
Ronin’s Map
Curious where the Zones are? Want to see what Ronin’s been hunting and learning through the years? Click the map to be redirected to Ariana’s site where you can download a full color map (designed to be printed on 8.5 x 11” paper). Use however you like.
About Ariana Browning:
Raised just outside Seattle, WA, Ariana Browning spends her days fighting bad guys, banishing evil, and creating female characters who show deep strength and love fiercely. Leather optional. In her spare time she wrangles goblins, gardens, and loves to cook or crochet.
Her influences are Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Anne Rice, Keri Arthur, Nora Roberts, Danielle Steele, and Michael Crichton to name a few.
If you enjoyed this, consider leaving Ariana a brief review to help spread the word about her work. Word-of-mouth is crucial to any author’s success. If you would like to contact her, she loves to interact with her fans, and her door remains open to you, her family. Stop by her website, or email her at [email protected]
For updates about new releases, discounts, free giveaways, as well as freebies, visit the author’s website and sign up for the VIP mailing list at - http://www.arianabrowning.com/
Other Titles by Ariana Browning
Novel
Always Consequences
Hope of the Future
In the Dark Illusions Series:
Dark Illusions: The Beginning
Dark Illusions: The Next Chapter
Dark Illusions: The Final Chapter
Novelette
Immortal Separation
Short Story
The Shadow Room Case Log
The Shadow Room - File No.1 - The Case of Earl (no last name)
The Shadow Room - File No. 2 - The Case of Rachel Murdock
Dedicated to Zeva
January 2003 – March 11, 2015
In her last hours this parakeet who remained mostly wild her entire life because of the abuse she’d been through before I got her, and never completely could let herself trust a human being, wanted nothing more than to spend them in my hands. She knew what was coming and chose finally to trust that a human could not just be there for her, but would not hurt her. So while I finalized this book, I held her and she helped me to put the final touches on it. Many hours went into this book and many more tears. Not just from the emotional impact that the characters dealt with, and had on me, but because of this beautiful bird. Most wouldn’t dedicate a book to a parakeet, but she has been an incredible muse for me. For anyone who has ever had an animal pass on that meant as much to them as well, I also dedicate this book to your blessing. To know such an animal is the greatest gift on the planet. They will always be a part of you.
Hope of the Future Page 30