PrimEVAl Sacrifice

by J H Spade

  “As long as I live, and even after. In whatever existence there is, I will want this with you. I can swear it to you. I will have this and so much more. Into the ends of limitless worlds, I would willingly go for you. I suppose that was my mistake with you, from the very beginning. Showing you how boundless the depth of my love for you is. The only thing good to come out of this mess we’ve made is my brother has learned to master his weakness for you, seeing what loving you has done to me. You my dear, are my preferred poison, and I’ll be taking you until my last dying breath,” Eros growls in my ear.

  My body goes stiff as I pretend to be brave and look up in time to catch Marcus’s eyes say what a whole lifetime filled with apologies would sound like, for suddenly he’s going numb, his body no longer fighting, showing he has no interest in what happens to me. But his eyes fill with moisture, letting me know Eros’s attention is nowhere near his brother which means it won’t be long now.

  I feel the rushed movements of Eros tugging on his pants, the insistent nudge of his hardness spears me to bury deep—too fast and wet, the pain that should have followed doesn’t, my body telling me how much I have betrayed the man I’ve purposely forgotten . . . the one I loved before the sun rose black on this fated day. I won’t reach for him in my mind because I never wish to say his name again.

  It’s a dream, echoes feverishly when Eros’s mouth claims my neck to bite deep. His growl mixes with a cry of my pain that shake the pillars as my nails dig, scourging flesh that I wish to lash out against, and yet it’s not enough. Nothing is enough now. Not when I feel so empty inside precisely because of how fully the crescendo of his thrusting claims me.

  The sounds of my taking clash loud in the room as I’m painfully stretched. It feels like I’m being devoured by him in a completely different way.

  My eyes prickle with a thousand pinpricks just as my body does at the violence of his need, but I find enough strength to deny him the tears he said were his due.

  Before his next thrust comes, I see through my peripheral vision, white flashing fangs as I hear, “Now . . . tell me,” a punishing brutal slam follows, rooting him inside me. His words begin to flow rough with the slapping sounds, quick long thrusts coming harder and harder, every deep-seated plunge into me, taking him deeper than the one before, “did . . . you really think . . .” thrust, “you could forget me?”

  Eros fucks me with the aggression of all the hate he feels. A stronger one of his drives pushes me forward to bury my face on Marcus’s as I scream all my denial against his flesh, “No . . . but gods above . . . I prayed for it!”

  He pinches my clit as reward, and I can’t swallow all of my groans since his invasion is too fast and sudden, but worst of all is when I can’t help tighten my pussy around his dick. Instead, I exhale the delirious moans onto Marcus’s skin, letting him muffle them because I try to be as quiet as I possibly can.

  Eros isn’t having it when his hand fists in my hair and the whip is twisted, doubled over as it strikes my thigh leaving a wildfire on my skin.

  A rush of my pained cries is heard with the current of his punishing hips, pounding me blind before pivoting his hips and slowly pulling out, while I flood with more need, “No, Master,” a hoarse cry of spellbinding pleasure is born on Marcus again and again before I can bite down on him to stop the sound of my harsh, rapturous breathing.

  Logan and the guards are roaring to one another. Eros, rigidly fucking himself blind with lust, seems can’t be bothered with them now, for the world could be burning down around us and I can see . . . feel it in my quaking bones how nothing will stop him. Our scent mingles strong in the heated air, our bodies wet with sweat and arousal.

  “I hate you.” I cry out hopelessly from the pain my heart feels regardless of what my body relishes in. It helps the sounds I make are agonized even when my body squeezes around his shaft.

  Logan’s will caves, not because of the whip I hear crashing into his body with increasing fervor, but because from what I can tell, my screams become hysterical, too much for him. His secret location and that of his armada is given, but Eros doesn’t stop as promised.

  The king of the lycans has betrayed his kingdom and his men who would gladly give their lives for him . . . for me. He knows it guarantees all their deaths at Marcus’s hands, and it is done regardless.

  Marcus’s body curves back in agony with the force he uses to spread his wings. They are the black void I need and are so large they almost span the width of the great room. He has healed his wounds. His nostrils are flared, scenting the air drenched in my desire. I find his head is thrown back, giving me a view of his long neck and the hard outline of his jaw I want to rain kisses on because I hunger when I find his mouth slack with pleasure, but he manages to swallow his moans, not making much sound.

  Greedily my hearing plucks out the small sounds Marcus makes, concentrating all my focus on it. The unmistakable sound of a howl rings, breaking the hypnotic trance I’ve been in, letting me know the lycan king has fully shifted into animal form. I can hear the beast out of his mind over the loud ringing in my ears, matching Eros’s driving tempo.

  I know it’s fruitless to hope that he can get free and tear Eros off of me.

  Thankfully, I can’t see anything but Marcus’s blood, his skin, his wings as they hide us from those in the room.

  I don’t want to see anything else as I hide from all of it—the insurmountable pain and ecstasy mix to finally let the pleasure climb to its highest apex and overtake my body, but never do I give Eros the name he willed my lips to form.

  Something snaps me from the clutches in the aftermath of my shame, right as I feel my orgasm rupturing through me. I think it’s Marcus voice that stops me from screaming Darius’s name in pleasure when my orgasm takes a hold of me, because even if Darius isn’t here, it belongs to him. Marcus tells me through our mindlink what I need to do to get out of this hellish dream.

  I feel ghost hands take mine, and do as I did before, only this time it is by Marcus’s own magic that my hands are stained with his blood. I take hold of his rib and with great force snap it free to turn and drive it into Eros’s heart.

  Eros comes with an agonized scream. With Eros’s release, his one vulnerable moment, only then do we truly find our own way out of the nightmare.

  Ch_: The Hour of The Dead

  Coming back from the nightmare I was trapped in, felt excruciating like coming back from death.

  Somehow Marcus manages to connect us longer than Eros had anticipated because as I shakingly crawl away from the wall and towards the Ashtree, with exhaustion marking every part of my body’s movements, his bloodied hand reaches for me and bands solidly around my ankle, unwilling to let go.

  My mind speaks to his and I say, “Only because it will allow King Logan and his men time to move, so he may get his armada away from you.” It is the truth, if I can save those men I would sacrifice more time here, but it is not the reason. I truly can’t find an ounce of strength to move, but I don’t wish Marcus to know how utterly beaten I am.

  I would beg for mercy if I could, because I’ve taken all I can. I don’t have the strength or desire to kick back at his hand and face to wrestle free of him. I don’t have the strength for anything, much less do as I had promised myself to do and run for Darius, so I can keep him safe from Eros.

  From myself too. Because even if what I just survived was only a dream, I will never be the same.

  Across border walls, Marcus begins to teach me ever so gently how to breathe again even when my mind refuses and thinks touching him would bring me more suffering.

  As long as Marcus can, he keeps me in his arms held tightly, my own weighed down soul making it impossible for me to fight while he holds me in his very strong and capable arms. I don’t know how much time passes by, nestled between his body and the shelter of two upraised roots that lift to hide us, the ground hollow enough for our bodies to lie close to one another and look to be a part of the ancient tree. The dirt is cleansin
g enough as it swallows our blood and my silent tears. He bears it all as silently as I do. Expended of all our strength, we wait for our injuries to heal. Some are worse than others as Marcus and I both take inventory with our eyes and hands, the two of us knowing it could very possibly be a lifetime before either of us is close to being fully healed. Wild and searching, like we are those roots in the ground seeking strength, we strip the clothes that remain to let our souls cry out and sink into each other’s skin, finding enough fortitude to forget about the world waiting for us on the other side and the past we choose not to remember when we find peace in each other’s eyes from what hounds us.

  *****

  At first I forget everything but how good it feels to sleep in the arms holding me, so tight, we can be confused for one being as our tangled limbs look to belong to one person or even the tree offering us its protection. I can now see, I’m not in my bedroom, lying with Darius as he got past the unsuspecting guards. No, instead I’m in a bed on the ground between two large upraised roots and dirt, hidden while laying over a solid large male I’d confused for Darius at first. The breeze is soft and warm, so nice as it pulls me deeper into sleep at the insistent male’s voice, a hypnotic request that won’t be denied for me to sleep.

  It’s so peaceful, I want to sleep forever locked in the protection of his arms.

  The gap of time extends for an unknown amount where I lay damned by the darkness that had swallowed me. The silent kiss of a breeze ruffles, ever so gently, a silky blanket of raven feathers covering us. The wind is a persistent disturbance over my shoulder, pulling me out of sleep as the feathers serve to shade our hopeless and naked bodies from the elements and anyone whom may come to search the tragedy of our cell, locked in our unified minds.

  It’s doubtful, I think to myself because it took quite some time for me to ride here searching for Tessa.

  And what would they find, if they did come across me? A sleeping princess trapped in her nightmare?

  Tessa. No. No, it can’t be true.

  Feathers! My mind cries in warning.

  Only when I scent the blood dried on both our bodies is that I frantically open my eyes in shock, trying to push away.

  I take a deep strangled breath that sounds like the first one taken after being resuscitated, rescued out of deep waters.

  I stand and so does he. Too quick after me, he gives me no choice but to take a step back instead of forward. I’m nothing but a shaking rush of afraid limbs that won’t move other than to shake like a leaf battered by pouring rain. While he, he has turned out to have gathered all his strengths after our quiet slumber.

  The Ashwood tree which so briefly protected me, now looks to betray me, placing me at Marcus’s whim. I stand between the ash, it digs at my skin between my shoulder blades, and a seething Marcus if his looks are any indication of his mood.

  There is a raging torrent in the sea I find in his jade eyes.

  “I don’t trust you.” I say as an offering, only because of all we suffered together. It is all I can give him and not more.

  Impatiently, he says, “You trusted me enough then . . . even here you trusted me more while we lay baring all to each other . . . naked souls as much as our bodies. Or have you forgotten so soon?” he says it sounding incredulous.

  My eyes stay rooted to his, refusing to look at the rest of him while he towers and steps forward, closing me off from the world I can’t think of when his presence takes all the room in my mind.

  I know I must look spooked because his hands raise in a show of reluctant caution, but he doesn’t step back. I frown up at him, “We did what we had to, to get out. I didn’t blame you then, you shouldn’t blame me now.”

  “Oh, I don’t. Don’t blame you for not trusting me, if you promise to not trust your lover who you protect . . . don’t trust yourself either because your heart will lead you astray. Do me a courtesy and don’t trust anyone for that matter, because it was I who suffered with you through it all, and I will have you not trust me before I see you captured by my brother because of your willingness to trust.”

  “I can’t do as you ask. I love him and will not let my lover go.” I don’t wish to say Darius’s name still, but in Marcus’s eyes I see the recognition that he knows the name.

  His jaw works frantically, and I can tell he’s stopping himself from doing something. I find out what it is with his next words.

  “Come with me.” His hand buries in my hair as he tips my head back, and I’m afraid he won’t let me go if I refuse. That no matter what I say, he’ll take me with him.

  “This is your plan. To steal me away and keep me from your brother? For how long will it work, do you think? Until he orders you through your sire bond to bring me back?” I say, sounding horrified and unimpressed.

  “Kill my brother, and you will follow. But I will come for you since I’m charged with delivering the bodies. I’ll keep you safe in the underworld. You can rule with me there, if it pleases you, and you will never have to think of him again.”

  “What about Ahren?” I only ask about Darius because I want to see how far he’s thought this through.

  “Kill him and I’ll bring him to you,” he offers without hesitating. Too quick for me to put any real significance on it as truthful.

  “You think me desperate, which I am, but a blind fool as well. I can’t trust you to do it, you said so yourself just now, but more than that I can never bring myself to harm him, much less kill him.”

  “I would give you whatever pleases you, even if it means I have to stay away. My kingdom in the Underworld is vast and you may take your pick of which realm to rule.”

  I marveled at his words, “You ask me to abandoned my people, my kingdom and my duty to protect them, leaving them to a sure death and even worse things if I abandon them.”

  “I’m asking you to save yourself because he will be relentless doing those things anyway. There’s no stopping, him Emma. I know Eros better than anyone.”

  I jerk my eyes from his face . . . trying to block what I’d seen, the the tips of his sharp white fangs—still vivid in my mind as they’d descended to peak beyond his lips, gnawing at my insides, “For how long, Marcus? For how long do you think he will let you keep me? If you do as you say you will and bring Ahren to me, to begin with. I do trust that you want to now, as you say the words to me, but then . . . well I’m not so sure, when you have his life in your grasp you will hold too much power over me with him as a bargaining chip, turning the scales completely in your favor. He will be too tempting for you to use against me.”

  He doesn’t argue with me, knowing I’m probably right.

  “Come with me.” Softly he beckons me, even against all the odds while he takes me tighter against him.

  I can’t help feel how much his body aches for mine, but I refuse to contemplate it further.

  My rejection comes out rushed, and I can’t help keep all of the panic sparking alive, “I’m sorry, but I will have to refuse you, now if you can kindly let me go.”

  He abruptly turns his broad back to me, his hand running through his hair with a growl erupting from him in frustration, “Go . . . Now, hurry, before I change my mind.”

  I wanted to listen more than anything, but not before I told him, “Marcus, I’m sorry. For what I did to you in there.”

  “Now. Go,” is all he says with no hint of warmth in his words.

  He blocks my path, so my steps take me around him while my heart pounds frantically in my ears because of how scared I am.

  Right when I clear his body, I feel his iron hand on my wrist to abruptly turn me against him.

  He pushes his elegant face right up to mine even if he keeps his emotions distant, no matter if we stand within a breath of each other, “You’re making a mistake by not coming with me. I can see that, and you have no idea how hard it is for me to let you go and let you fall into Eros’s trap. Tell me,” his eyes burn as they search mine, “Do you really think Eros won’t do to you a hundred times w
orse than what he did to you in a dream, once he has you? How are you willing to take that chance!”

  “For him, I’m willing to risk everything. You and I included.” I say without hesitation and apology.

  “You delude yourself, Princess. For him, you have doomed us all. Eros will have him in the end, make no mistake. But I won’t let him have you, I don’t care how much you end up blaming me. Just remember when the time comes, I let you do things your way first.”

  “Fine.” I look down at my hands he has clasped on his chest, expectantly waiting for their release as I swallow against the thickness of emotion stuck in my throat, his black wings folding me to be bound against his body. Fine . . . I yielded because it meant I get to walk away now, which is still to be seen.

  “Fine,” he agrees. His hands linger, when he adds, “But shall you ever come to need it, I’ll leave my offer open to you. There is a door hidden in Eros’s castle to my kingdom, to the Underworld. If you find yourself locked in his castle, seek the closed off wing. You will find a mirror, it is the gate you must take there.”

  I blink in aquiessence, waiting for him to let me go. If I should fight him for my release, I’m afraid it will be too late.

  “Thank you, I’m sure our paths will cross again.” A soft whisper against his lips.

  “Promise me, promise you’ll take it.” And I’ll let you go, remains unspoken.

  “I promise,” a fool’s lie, but he accepts it nonetheless, even with the regret reflected in his eyes, betraying the gaping hole in his chest.

  “Then there’s nothing left for us, I must go. I’ll be needed on lycan lands.” His hands fall, closed fisted at his side. I whisper, “Goodbye, Marcus,” turn, running into the obsidian feathers of his wings. They tangle on my body as I inch through, feeling like a thousand fingers memorizing my skin.