Dark Legacy

by Anna DeStefano

  The entire situation was a clusterfuck. And Jarred’s pushing Maddie to face her family secrets had accomplished exactly nothing. The insanity stalking her every move claimed more of her mind by the second. Just like Metting had said it would.

  But Maddie finally trusted Jarred. She’d initiated their kiss beneath the looming tree in her mother’s backyard. Her mind had begun to clear once she let herself focus on him. When she’d focused on them, rather than her sister’s insanity. That connection was Jarred’s only remaining weapon. Their bond would have to be strong enough to see Maddie through the next crisis.

  Terrified of what that “next” challenge might be, Jarred crawled onto the bed beside Maddie, cradling her soft body against his. He breathed in the fresh scent of her until he no longer felt alone. His mind brushed hers, out of habit now. His fingers tunneled through the auburn fire of her hair. He rolled her to face him and tucked her in closer. He shouldn’t be closing his eyes and letting his exhaustion settle deeper. He should stay alert and aware in case they’d been followed. But this was Maddie in his arms. His mind. His heart. And she was suddenly all he could feel.

  There were no good answers to any of their questions. The threats to Maddie and her family kept growing. But with Maddie in his arms Jarred could almost believe his promises that they could face anything together. And as promises became thoughts of hope, his thoughts drifted toward dreams of Maddie. A place where there was no room for fear or failure as long as they were together. No room for anything but the light caress of her breathing against his neck. Her feminine moan of approval as his hands splayed across her back, following the line of her spine, until it dipped just above her hips…

  A wash of soft, white peace seeped through him. The shadows of deepening sleep bloomed into gray, and then into the gentle promise of a dawn sky.

  “Stay with me,” his mind called. “Come back to me, Maddie. Show me what you need.”

  Jarred was floating just beyond her dreams. Then with a vibrant rush of color, his mind dove toward wherever Maddie was. Searching for what he’d lost. Finding himself welcome. Finding relief and joy, because he’d been gone too long, and he was needed more than he’d ever thought he could be. He was loved here. He was craved with the same all-encompassing passion that had been building inside him.

  Maddie’s lips fluttered against his skin as she filled him with images that were really feelings. Nothing had form wherever they were, but everything meant something amazing. Something uniquely Maddie. He saw a woman’s view of the world, combined with a poet’s dream of what each morning’s new beginning could be. A healer’s soul, creating hope from failure and faith from doubt. A lover’s lost passion, firing streaks of crimson through a growing collage of sensation. Her hands clutched at his body. Her dream shifted to another plane, his consciousness and imagination her hostage for the ride.

  In their dream, Maddie was free. They both were. She wasn’t weak, and he wasn’t protective. She wasn’t broken, and he wasn’t on the outside helplessly watching while she lost her mind. God no. He was with her. He was her. And she was him, and he was never letting her go. And he wasn’t just dreaming, he realized…Their minds were linked, but he was also touching her body, holding her, making love to her, feeling Maddie respond with erotic abandon in…

  Reality…

  Jarred opened his eyes—half dreaming still, half awake. He rolled Maddie onto her back, pursuing now instead of passively following her lead.

  No more barriers. No more safe. No more careful…her mind whispered, her thoughts giving his permission to take more. Give more. All of him. All of her. Everything. And then her eyes opened, too. They were dreamy and soft with sleep, but she was with him in this reality that was all theirs, too.

  He cherished her soft body with his hands. The taut muscles beneath his touch trembled. Her legs quivered as he raised them to wrap around his hips. He angled her body closer. They were both splitting, who they’d been falling away so they could become something new. Something truly free.

  They clung to each other. In their shared dream they were on the soft grass of a country hill. The sun and the breeze and the smell of spring tempted them to reach for more.

  “Don’t hold back,” Maddie whispered. “Don’t…I don’t want to be afraid anymore.”

  “I’m here.” Jarred kissed a path down her neck, his hips rocking against the damp heat pooling between her denim-clad thighs. “No holding back.”

  His body rocketed to full arousal. He wanted to strip her clothes away. Bare her breasts to the warm sun. Drown in every inch of her until he was sated. Except he’d never have enough. He’d never want to stop. And she was just as ravenous—a woman who’d been running from him for months.

  “Kiss me again,” she breathed, the need in her voice demanding that his mouth return to hers.

  “Yes.”

  And it wasn’t a sweet kiss she offered. It was biting nips of her teeth. A wicked smile in response to his growl. Her tongue intertwining with his, inviting him to lose even more control because she knew she’d be safe with him. The wildness in her, the strength he’d know was there, wanted all of Jarred in this sunny place that pain and fear couldn’t touch.

  He deepened the kiss. His fingers plucked her nipples, his touch roughening until she purred with pleasure. She arched as his nails scraped down her waist, down the soft fabric of her sweater until he’d reached its hem. Her fingers met his there, and they both pulled the material up her body and over her head, baring curves and satiny skin and a tempting black bra.

  “Please, Jarred,” she begged, a little scared now. A little more the Maddie who kept fading into her sister’s reality and needed saving because she was afraid she’d disappear forever. “Please…”

  “I’m here.” His thumb rubbed along her trembling lips. “You can let go here. You can have anything you want. What do you want, Maddie? Show me.”

  His challenge banished everything timid and unsure and weak from their dream.

  “I want you.” Her nails scratched down his shirt, biting deep.

  She ripped at buttons. Tore the material back until she was scraping his bare skin. Fire from her touch streaked to every part of him that craved this hidden fierceness she allowed no one else to see. His own fantasies promised wicked retribution. She smiled at the images that filled his mind. The green of her eyes deepened, their dreamy softness beginning to smolder. The woman dragging his body closer was demanding. Wanton. Undeniable. Insatiable. An all-consuming passion Jarred craved.

  In the dream he saw the grass beneath them become black satin sheets. The tree shading them from the sun’s rays was now a velvet canopy of darkest ebony, shadowing them in a scorching realm of desire. The glide and heat of Maddie’s body bewitched him. Every naughty wiggle challenged him to pin. To conquer until she screamed. Until the power of his need threatened to incinerate them both if it didn’t release.

  Jarred ripped away her bra. She laughed a sultry challenge. Her jeans went next, and—Jesus—the lacy thong beneath. She dug streaks down his back with her nails as he shoved his own clothes away. The pain and pleasure of it hardened the edge of violence riding him, until he slammed her hands to the sheets beneath her head.

  “Is this what you want?” he growled. His thighs parted hers, his body poised at her core. It took every shred of restraint he still possessed to wait. He had to be sure. “Is it?”

  “I want you to take me, Jarred.” Her voice was soft and hard. Weak and powerful. Need and determination. “See me. All of me. Need me. Take what you need.”

  She rocked against the bedspread. In the dream they were wrapped in satin. She lifted her hips, and the soft, wet folds of her sex brushed the head of his cock. She moaned when he drove into her. Just an inch. Nowhere near far enough.

  “Maddie.” He should still be holding her hands instead of caressing her hips. He should be cherishing her gently, instead of guiding her closer. But reality was feeling further away as their dream demanded more.
His fingers clenched the soft globes of her bottom.

  “Don’t stop.” Her hips rotated, rimming him, stimulating flesh already painfully aroused.

  He slid another inch into her tight, wet grip.

  Pulled back.

  “I…” This was their first time. Maddie was his soul mate. He’d never believed he had a soul before meeting her. He had to make this right.

  Her hips surged. Took him deeper.

  “Trust the dream, Jarred.” She said his name like she could swallow him whole, milk him until he lost himself in her forever, and still she wouldn’t have enough. “Don’t stop. Show me how much you need me.”

  “God…” He closed his eyes.

  Dream images of their intertwined bodies flashed through his mind. Slick with sweat and the summer rain now pouring down on them and the dream’s satin bed. Then the sheets and canopy overhead were gone. And the dream world was growing still, as if waiting for him to decide between being afraid for Maddie and relinquishing control to their craving. To the certainty that he’d gladly die in this woman’s arms, in her body, if it meant never being separated from her again.

  Jarred’s will surrendered to the erotic vortex of caring and loving and needing without restraint. Without limits.

  “Yes,” Maddie’s sigh rang in his ears.

  “God—” He drove into her, balls deep. “Yes!”

  Their world exploded into driving, soul-shattering sex. Desire and ecstasy and a bottomless compulsion for more.

  “Not enough…” Jarred bit out. He nipped her lips, her neck, her nipples, until her passion flared with his, flooding him, forcing them both higher. “Never enough…”

  “More…” She rocked into him, her calves sliding up and down his thighs.

  With each of his strokes, her nails pricked, then clawed at his body. A man could die from needing this way. Needing this much. Hearing a woman scream for him. Hearing her demand more. Feeling the need pour off her, savoring it until it ruled him. Until he became a slave to it. Until he’d do anything to keep it.

  Until he was willing to—

  “Stay with me forever,” Maddie whispered, her skin misting with perspiration.

  “Yes…” He pulled to his knees and sat back, still inside her. “Don’t stop. Don’t—”

  “Never…” She straddled his hips, their lower bodies slapping together as her bottom rotated in an erotic dance.

  She arched her back, thrusting her breasts toward him. Her pebble-hard nipple filled his mouth. Her nails raked his chest. He groaned and looked down at his body pistoning into hers. And all he could think was—

  “More…”

  Need consumed them, denied too long to require gentleness or care or nurturing. It had to bleed until it was dry. Until nothing remained but completion and the raw essence of a man and a woman who were made for each other. Until they were both screaming in release. Shaking in each other’s arms. Throbbing and falling together. Neither letting go. Ever.

  Jarred pulled Maddie closer. Tried to breathe. To absorb her softness. Her trust. Except…

  Her body had grown suddenly rigid. Cold. And she was…

  She was laughing.

  A demented cackle that assaulted the testosteroneinduced fog that had swamped him. A bawdy giggle taking over his mind, wiping out Maddie’s whispers of completion. A laugh of hate-filled triumph. And that’s when Jarred realized he couldn’t fully wake up, no matter how wrong his and Maddie’s dream had become.

  The dream had taken control.

  No. Something outside of it had.

  It wasn’t Maddie in his arms now, moving again and melting into his body and mind. Destroying his control. Taking his humanity.

  “More…” the woman demanded in the altered voice he’d first heard in his office. The voice that kept coming back whenever Maddie lost herself.

  “S…Sarah?” he gasped.

  His mind rebelled against the wave of danger permeating the dream, but it wouldn’t disengage. The dark creature in his arms snuggled closer, the cold bite of steel suddenly between them. In the dream. In reality.

  In reality he held tight to Maddie’s body, protecting her as Sarah’s hate, her dark heart, grew even stronger.

  “Maddie?” he called out. “Please…”

  “Maddie’s not here,” the voice whispered.

  She brushed a kiss across his eyes so he could see the dream clearly, and there she sat.

  Controlling him with her mind.

  Painting the deadly shadows shifting around them.

  “Sarah,” he gasped, fighting to pull back.

  Back to the woman he loved.

  But all he could manage was to gaze helplessly up at Death. And at the serrated edge of the knife clenched in her raised fist—in both the dream and reality—the knife Maddie had been holding at her mother’s house.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  A part of Sarah was horrified by the nightmare she was projecting. But the control, the power that came with her sister’s dream…Sarah needed more. It had almost killed her, finding Maddie’s mind again. Now Maddie’s consciousness was feeding hers.

  Sarah stared down at her sister’s valiant doctor. He was mesmerized. Terrified. Dreaming beyond himself. Beyond Maddie. Lord, he was beautiful. Making Sarah feel what he made Maddie feel, and then some. Why the hell had her sister spent so much time avoiding the man, instead of strapping him on and taking him out for a test spin? His devotion to Maddie was unwavering. Infuriating.

  Sarah had let herself believe in that kind of love with her Raven. It had led to nothing but being manipulated and used until she’d become the darkness he’d promised to protect her from. So, really, she was doing her sister a favor, ending this before Maddie was betrayed, too.

  Besides, it was Maddie’s turn to know real pain and loneliness.

  Keith groaned while his mind battled for freedom. His gaze was pinned on the knife Sarah had made sure her sister swiped from their mother’s house.

  “Take the first weapon you find,” she’d drilled into Maddie’s mind during those few minutes they’d been joined at the center. “Be ready when I need you.”

  And now Sarah needed her sister to end her connection to the only person who could stop Maddie from coming to Sarah whenever Sarah needed her. Then Maddie would belong to Sarah. She would want whatever Sarah wanted—to end the Raven and the Wolf. As long as Jarred Keith no longer existed, Sarah would never be alone again.

  She closed her eyes and absorbed the power of his and Maddie’s feelings for each other. She ran the tip of the knife along Keith’s chest, leaving thin trails of blood behind. And with each cut, his love for her sister fired higher than his fear. Sarah laughed at his stupidity. He knew she was Death. He knew it would be over soon. But he was enduring, believing he could stop her. Determined to save Maddie from her. While ravens circled above them in the dream.

  Storm clouds swirled closer. A demented tree shifted in the wind. Cold steel cut into Jarred. But even in death, with anger and violence and evil haunting his unguarded mind, this man believed in the good in Sarah’s twin. He’d love her forever. No matter what. Outside the dream, he was gazing into Maddie’s eyes, the way the Raven had once gazed into Sarah’s.

  Maddie had to suffer for that look, the darkness growing inside Sarah insisted. Jarred’s hateful promise of love had to go away. And then Maddie had to accept how much she needed Sarah, and only Sarah. Joining Sarah as Death was the only way. Then they’d be truly free. That’s what the Wolf had promised when he’d turned Sarah loose on Maddie’s mind.

  Jarred’s hands grasped Sarah, breaking free of her control. Drowning her with his desperate need to protect the woman he loved.

  Sarah screamed, hating him. Because he was making her feel that love, and she’d promised herself as she sat huddled in an abandoned building and prayed that Maddie’s mind would let her in, that she’d never feel anything again. But now she was linked to her sister’s mind, to the world she’d never been allowed to h
ave. And Sarah’s need for love was blooming back to life—even though she was still huddled and weak and alone, back where no one was fighting to save her. In that abandoned place, feelings meant only pain and loneliness until there was nothing left of her but death.

  Sarah wanted no more pain. No more love. No more need for anyone but Maddie. Until one day soon there would be no more them, either, once they made the Raven and the Wolf pay. No more demented legacy. She and Maddie were going to end this nightmare together.

  “No!” Jarred screamed as Sarah wielded the knife, cutting into his chest in Maddie’s reality. And still, his fear wasn’t for himself—but for the woman his soul was bound to.

  “No!” Maddie screamed, pushing through Sarah’s control and clinging to the love she’d been too afraid to face before.

  “This ends now,” Sarah said, while she and her scared-little-mouse of a sister shuddered in unison, neither of them in control of the dream now.

  They raised the knife together to deliver the deathblow.

  Summer thunder rolled.

  Raven wings spread.

  A tree’s ghastly limbs swayed…

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  “No!”

  Outside the dream, Maddie saw the knife drop. She fought her twin’s compulsion for control. She felt Jarred’s shocked agony as cold steel pierced his chest again, ripping at his life and the love he’d given her…

  “Die!” Maddie screamed in the dream. In Sarah’s voice.

  Ravens overhead dove through the branches of a haunted tree, eager for their next victim…

  “No!” Maddie begged in reality, trying to force her body to move beyond Sarah’s control. To throw the knife down and cover Jarred’s bleeding body, as if just her touch could heal him.