A laser gun cut through her, blood spattering everywhere. She coughed and gazed into the vid stream. “Tell Mother…” and she died, her body sliced in two.
The transmission went dark.
“Arrgh!” A heartbreaking cry from Shaun ripped through Leo’s very soul. He’d promised to save the man’s sister. And failed.
It was like losing Shanie all over again. It didn’t matter that he’d had no control. Another woman sacrificed to the Brotherhood and he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was responsible. Leo gritted his teeth. Of all people, he understood Shaun’s loss, his misery.
Shaun collapsed to his knees, the agony on his face tightening his features and making him seem old. Leo and the princess rushed to him, to hold him, to provide pointless comfort. He and his mate folded Shaun in their arms and rocked him, letting the storm blow through all three of them. But Leo knew firsthand how worthless comfort was in the face of loss.
* * *
“He won’t cry,” Sera whispered. Shaun had finally fallen into an exhausted sleep, his whole body slumped with grief and anguish. If only he would cry or scream. But after that first gut-wrenching cry, Shaun had been silent.
“He’s beyond numb.” Leo’s face was grim, dark circles underneath his eyes. He seemed so sad, as if he shared Shaun’s pain.
“Was it like that when your mate died?” She didn’t want to ask the question. His mate was dead, yet Sera resented her very existence. Leo belonged to her, but once he’d marked another woman. On purpose. Not by accident. Sera hated the woman because Leo had loved her.
“Yes.” Leo stroked the scar on his face. “We’d known each other all our lives, grew up together, but then one night…” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I loved her. We were family before I mate-marked her.”
Okay, she’d asked for this, but Sera wished it didn’t rip her into tiny little shreds. He’d loved her. Probably loved her still.
He went on. “But I don’t know if I loved her the way a marked mate should be loved.”
What? “What do you mean?” Sera held her breath.
“She was my friend, my lover, but our passion was…quiet, sweet.” He shifted, turned away from her. “Not like—” He cleared his throat. “When she died, I went crazy. I killed. I attacked at random.” He touched the scar on his face. “I was left with this and a room full of blood. And I still don’t know why they killed her.” A humorless laugh grated on her ears. “Perhaps if I’d loved her more, I could have stopped them. Instead, they’re more powerful than ever.”
“Bullshit.”
Leo glared at her. “Princess,” he warned.
“Bullshit,” she said again. “You spent three years trying to avenge her. How many stab wounds do you have to take before you let yourself off the hook? You took twenty-five on Sethos Five. I ought to know. I counted them.”
Leo’s hands cupped her face. “Oh, sweetheart. The thing is that I would take many more, a hundred, a thousand for you. With Shanie, the rage only appeared when she died. But if a man touches you, I’m lost. I loved Shanie, but it was a childhood dream, a friendship with benefits.” He brushed her lips with his. “How could I know how consuming, how overwhelming this could be?”
She blinked. Was he saying what she thought he was saying? “Leo—”
An explosion rocked the surface above them. The force flung her across the room. Her head bounced on the hard stone wall. Leo was there in a second, lifting her into his arms. Shaun groaned, blood trickling from his nose. Leo shouted, “Shaun, get up.”
They rushed from the replicator room into the com room. Leo set her down on her feet. “Do you have an electrostunner here?”
She nodded and crawled to a hidden place in the stone wall. Inside were two laser rifles and an electrostunner. Leo had fiddled with one of the handhelds he found, presumably left by one of the archeologists. He yanked Shaun’s coveralls open, leaving most of his skin exposed. Then he held the thing up to Shaun’s body and scanned him. A loud bleep from the handheld made Leo nod, and he held his hand out for the electrostunner. He adjusted the setting to a low level and aimed it at the small area at Shaun’s hip.
“What are you doing?” Shaun demanded. He sounded nervous.
“They’re tracking us. You’re bugged.” Leo focused the electrostunner and fired. Shaun shouted and convulsed. Then something crackled, and a lump appeared above Shaun’s hip. Leo whipped out his knife and very carefully extracted a small round disc. “Here. Put pressure on it.” He glanced at Sera. “We have to move. Is there a secure area, a place where the planet will not allow anyone but your blood to be?”
She nodded. Fuck, she didn’t want to go to that room. But she had to save them, and that damned room was the best place to hide. Secure, hidden, and undetectable, it would keep them safe.
Rocks rattled overhead since the explosions continued to shake the surface above them. Her heart ached for the beautiful temple being bombed out of existence. And for what? For her? It wasn’t worth it, and now she couldn’t even use the planet’s power to destroy the invaders. If she did, she’d be sucked dry. And using Shaun was out of the question.
She raced ahead of Leo and Shaun, determined not to be a detriment, a burden. A stone plowed into her back, and she stumbled, her hands slamming into the floor. Leo was there, lifting her up, his hands sweeping over her. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she managed to choke out. They sprinted down the corridor. Suddenly the hallway behind them collapsed, and Sera spun around. She could see the surface, the evening light streaming through. The sight was horrific. Lasers were slicing through the temple walls, destroying centuries of history.
Tears filled her eyes and blurred the scene. The bastards. The dirty fucking assholes. She was going to kill them. She was going to blow them into oblivion.
The words were flowing from her mouth before she could stop them. Ancient words. Words of death. Her hands rose, and the power filled her. She screamed at the pain, familiar now, as the planet roared its protest at her possession by her Nyral mate. But she wasn’t going to stop. Power slammed through her, from her, and the very soil of the surface surged upward to beat against the fighters trying to kill her.
Huge boulders flew easily through the air and exploded one of the fighters. She focused on the next ship. Men were bailing out, and she annihilated them with stones. One man suffocated beneath tons of soil that rose like a fist to crush him. His agonizing screams echoed in her ears, and she laughed, gleeful, exhilarated with his death.
“Princess!” Leo shouted, but she barely heard him. What did he want? She was going to kill them all. Invaders! Desecraters! Killers!
Once again, Leo kissed her, his hand pressed against the mark on her arm. The fiery pain changed to an erotic burning that jerked her soul away from the killing, the blood, the excitement of murder.
Her planet roared, thrashed, whole sections of its crust cracking and breaking into pieces. Water sprayed into the air like volcanic geysers. It hissed and spit, but she released the power, flinging it back into the deepest corners of Placido’s core.
Tears streamed down her face, and she slumped into Leo’s arms. “They killed it. They hurt it. Why, Leo, why? I’m not worth it!”
Blood streamed from her nose, and her back stung like she’d been dragged through thorns. Material drifted around her face as her flight suit shredded. Death surrounded her and took those she loved. Regardless of the danger, Placido was still her legacy, her home, and she brought destruction here too. Her heart ached for her mother, for her people, for herself. Oblivion was preferable. Darkness seemed cool and blissful. She let it take her.
* * *
Panicked, Leo wiped the blood from his princess’s nose. She couldn’t die. Not now. Not when—
“Get up!” Shaun shouted. “We can’t stay here.” The underground labyrinth shuddered, another explosion rocking the surface above them.
Stunned, Leo could only cradle his mate, praying she wouldn’t l
et the planet take her. Shaun grabbed his arm and shook it. “Move, Leo.”
Finally, he staggered to his feet, the princess’s still form in his arms, and stumbled along the hallway. Shaun stopped abruptly and stared at a closed, stone door on their right. “What is it?” Leo asked.
Shaun yanked him closer. “Put her hand here.”
Her palm fit the lock on the door, and it slid open, dust swirling in the air. The three of them slipped inside.
The triangular altar was there, and many of the artifacts the princess had returned with the ritual lay scattered around the room. This was a temple, a sacred place.
The altar glowed, the markings white against the golden inlay. Leo wanted to get the fuck out of that room. Here lay Placido’s power. This place was the heart of the thing that wanted what belonged to him. His stomach tightened, and his mouth was dry. He held her closer to him to protect her.
Her eyes opened into tiny slits. “Lay me in front of the altar.”
He glared at her. “No.” It would devour her, take her away from him. His mate mark sizzled and ached.
Her hand reached up to cup his face. “Trust me, Leo. I won’t let it take me. I promise.”
His muscles bunched, and he buried his face in her neck. What would he do if he lost her? Her fingers twined in his hair, and she pressed him closer. All around them, the temple could crumble, the planet could split in two, but if he had her close, had her here, he would be at peace.
“Put me in front of the altar, Master,” she whispered.
His head shot up. She’d called him “Master.” A fierce joy swept through him. His heart swelled in his chest until he thought it would burst. She belonged to him. He was her master. She was his submissive. The planet couldn’t have her.
Gently, he laid her in front of the altar. He held her hand, kneeling beside her. The mark on her forearm flared to life. The writing on the altar glowed red, blinding him. Her back arched, and her muscles tightened, but she made no sound. The room was eerily quiet, with only Shaun’s harsh breathing cutting through the silence.
The room began to hum. Markings on the walls began to glow. Vibrations, like musical strains, made the floor buzz. Power. So much power. The room shifted, turning like a turret; the grinding of stone against stone grated on Leo’s ears.
It spun faster and faster. What the hell was this room? The hum grew louder, and Leo stared at the princess. She’d said she wouldn’t let the planet take her, but he wasn’t sure she could stop it.
A beam shot out from the tip of the altar and aimed directly for his mate’s forehead. “No!” he shouted and covered her body with his.
The light exploded at the back of his head, and he felt sucked into the altar. He resisted, all of his will focused against the power cutting through his soul like a knife. Oh God, the raw, aching electricity that ripped through him was harsh and demanding. It tried to drain him, pull him under. His nerves sizzled and snapped as his resistance waned. How the hell had his princess held out against it?
Take me, you bloody bastards. Take me instead. He could only hope Placido would listen to his plea.
A roar deafened him, pouring into his ears and slicing through his flimsy resistance. He screamed soundlessly. Protect his princess. Protect Sera. She belonged to him. He loved her with all his soul and all his heart. He hung on to that small thread and stayed firm, unwilling to crumble in the face of the raw, angry power flooding him.
Light filled the room, and Leo watched as the walls bled away like they were melted wax. Everything disappeared. Shaun, the artifacts, the walls. And his mate.
He shouted, “Sera!”
The space swallowed his shout as if he was buried. As if he was dead.
“Who are you?” A huge roar made Leo clap his hands over his ears.
“I am Leo Eyler, mate to Princess Sera Placido.” He managed to get the words out, though he wondered if the thing heard him.
“You are the reason we cannot reach her.” The loud, flat voice made Leo shudder.
“And you’re the reason the planet is abandoned.” He might die, but he wasn’t going down without a fight.
“They would not surrender. They would not submit.” The blank space rippled.
“You took what could have been given freely. Now you feed off one instead of millions. If she dies, you will disappear.” That had to be it. Once, the planet had had the population at its fingertips, giving and taking, like a feedback loop. But then whatever drove it had gotten greedy and demanded more, sucking the people dry, taking by force.
The white walls shook. “She is ours.”
“No, she belongs to me. But she was willing to give her life for you, to protect you. Even though she is mine. And I am willing to take her place.” He steeled himself for the onslaught of raw power and of pain. He’d offered himself in Sera’s place, and now the planet could take him.
Silence.
Was his offer rejected? The planet wasn’t evil, just hungry, desperate. To save Sera, Leo was willing to give it what it wanted. His life force.
“We cannot.”
His stomach dropped. Why? Could it only be Sera’s life? The mark on his hip burned, and he ached for his mate. He couldn’t live without her, didn’t want to try. The white space shifted, ripples flowing along the surface.
Suddenly he was surrounded by four men and two women. Robed in white, they were all slightly older. Who were they? Some council of long ago?
“We are the ones who failed Placido and her people.” One of the women spoke. Her features seemed familiar.
“Failed?” he asked, his gaze resting on each of the figures.
“I believed my destiny was to sacrifice myself and my daughter to the planet,” the woman replied.
“I hoped to end a war decisively with the planet’s power,” one of the men said.
“I hoped to force our people to comply with my wishes,” a big, burly man stated.
“We hoped to forge a new, more powerful world with the planet’s power,” one of the men said, his hand clasped with the second woman’s.
“And I wanted power for myself, to mold Placido into my image,” the last man replied.
“We have all become sacrifices for Placido, not because the planet demanded it, but because we would not release our dreams,” the first woman said. “We encouraged our people’s fear rather than soothing them. We trained others to be as self-seeking and fearful as ourselves.” Her eyes filled with tears. “We are trapped here, doomed to pay for our selfishness.”
Leo gazed at the woman. He knew her. “You are Sera’s mother.”
She bowed her head. “I trained her to fear Placido, to access its power, but through a veil of terror.” The walls rippled. “The planet only desires to connect with its own people.” The woman’s gaze met his.
He thought of Sera’s fear, of her people’s fear. “Then why does it take their lives?”
The first man shrugged. “It only takes back what is drained. If great power is used, life equivalent is taken.” He glanced at each of the other figures. “Our people left Placido because the temptation of its power was too great, and they were unwilling to accept the consequences of using it.”
“Power is a double-edged sword. Why not explain to your people what the planet needs?” Leo could feel the need from Placido. It needed the blood of its people to flow with it, be a part of it. Instead it only had archeologists and long stretches of loneliness. He felt Placido’s intense sadness and the overwhelming need.
“In life, none of us knew,” the second woman said softly. “And no human being has been brave enough to face us.
Sera’s mother stepped closer to him. “But you have sacrificed yourself to save her. Placido has made you a part of itself.”
Leo blinked. “What?”
The woman smiled. “Someday the Placido line will return to the planet, to feed and be fed.” The six figures began to fade. “You must care for that line. You are that line. It will be you and your family who
will bring the people back to their home. Of all human beings, the people of Nylar understand the pitfalls and glory of power. You can explain it.” Her hand reached out. “Tell my daughter that I love her, that I’ve always loved her. Tell her that, Nyral master.” And the woman faded away.
The blank space melted away, white ripples shuddering to nothingness, and Leo blinked, opened his eyes, and found he was back in the chamber with Sera’s beautiful face hovering over his.
“Leo!” she sobbed. “By the stars, why did you do that? Why?”
“Because I love you, Sera,” he managed, and darkness closed in.
Chapter Ten
He loved her? Sera stared at Leo’s face, white and still, her tears splashing his cheeks. Not now. He couldn’t tell her that now and then fucking die.
She lifted her head and screamed, a loud and horrendous sound that echoed back at her. God, she was going to destroy this place, this hellhole. It took him from her. It—
“Princess,” Leo whispered.
“Leo,” she said and buried her face in his neck. “Master, don’t leave me.”
“No, I won’t.” His hand stroked her hair. “Your mother loved you, loves you still. Hold on to that. You’re free. You always were. I’ll explain later.” He stirred and glanced at Shaun. “We have to get off this planet. Now.”
Shaun nodded. “You have a plan?”
Leo’s grin almost made Sera sob in relief. He’d only been unconscious for a few minutes, but she had been convinced he was going to die like her mother had. Now she didn’t know what to think. What had happened to him?
Leo nodded and rose a little unsteadily to his feet. His eyes closed, and he started to speak. Sera’s jaw dropped. The man was speaking the language of the stars, the one it had taken her years to learn. He just knew it.
The planet shifted and moved. It wasn’t the explosive power she had used, but a careful, methodical strength that flowed from Leo. She stared at him. It was his control, his discipline that kept the power streamlined and aimed directly at the remaining invaders.
Marked 2: Marked for Desire Page 11