"Doulzen, I have it!" she yelled toward the hole, wiping her brow with her sleeve. She pulled her shirt away from her body, letting air flow around her chest.
He didn't respond.
Gads!
"Doulzen?!"
Panicking, she limped to the other side of the branch, careful not to add more pain to her already-throbbing ankle, and pushed. Using all her might, she leaned hard into the limb, shoving forward until the end slid over the edge. Suddenly, the limb just slipped out of her grasp, then thudded to a stop a second later as it came to rest again at an angle. Oh god, what had stopped its fall? It certainly wasn't as long as the hole was deep . . . She held her breath, waiting for his response or for movement of any kind. What if he was too hurt to climb out? What if he'd been knocked out somewhere down there after she'd dropped a limb on his head?
Priya exhaled and inched closer to the crumbling edge, keeping her weight off her injured foot. She looked down again, ready to go in after him.
Doulzen looked up at her with fierce determination coating his features as his arms pulled his body up the tree, his coat billowing around him with the movement. Sweat glistened on his brow as he struggled up the limb. Priya reached down toward him when he was close enough. He grabbed her hand and she pulled as hard as she could, squinting her eyes shut and grinding her teeth with the effort. Priya put all of her body weight into the action. His grip tightened as he reached the top of the hole and they fell backward with the momentum, neither able to stop the force of gravity as Doulzen landed on top of her. His hat slipped off his head and his intense silver gaze found hers. He was breathing heavily and with each breath, his weight pressed against her. Her pain was nearly forgotten, replaced with heat.
He looked down at her lips and a second later, his mouth was on hers. Her core warmed and she moaned . . . Gads! She closed her eyes and his tongue slipped out, encouraging her lips to part. She met him halfway and gooseflesh slid down her skin. A hot, prickling sensation started at the nape of her neck and her eyes popped open. She was going to shift!
"Wait!" She pushed him back and scooted out from under his very solid form.
Doulzen clenched his jaw and sat back on his heels with an apparent hard-on. He grabbed his hat and was about to stand when the ground shook around them. Priya's arms flew out, trying to keep her balance. To her utter embarrassment, she fell right into Doulzen in a tangle of limbs, pinning them both to the ground again.
And that's when she spotted the source of the apparent earthquake.
Long, stick-like, triple-jointed legs popped out first, pulling an enormous, chitinous bulk after them.
Ravenous, bright green eyes locked with Priya's own gaze, freezing her in place.
Chapter 7
Doulzen's arms wrapped around Priya as he pulled her to her feet against him. The scarab dug its way out of the ground. It was a lot bigger than he had thought—the size of a moose. The sun's rays glinted off the bright metallic greens and yellows of its carapace. It would have been beautiful if not for the fact that it smelled like shit and wanted to eat him. To his disappointment, the shadows around them were still being sucked up by the beetle, which meant no shadow magic was available to him.
"Run!" He pushed Priya forward.
They gained some distance before she fell.
He tripped over her.
She cried out.
The scarab made a skittering nose as it stalked toward them. He had no idea how to defeat the creature without his power. Priya crawled backward right into him and he pulled her back to her feet. She was limping. "Dammit, where did you hurt yourself?"
She didn't respond, her eyes wide and fixed on the beetle.
"Priya." He turned her face toward him. He needed to know where she was hurt, fast, so he could accommodate her. "Where are you hurt?"
"An—" She gulped. "Ankle." Her eyes shot back up to the creature. "It's coming . . . it's going to eat us. Gads!" She tried to back farther away, falling over yet again. Doulzen grabbed her, this time supporting her on her bad side, and together they ran into the trees. He half carried her small form over roots and through bushes.
There was a horrendous screech, but Doulzen didn't look back to see if the damn thing followed or how close it was—he kept moving forward.
Priya snagged on something and slipped from his arms. He turned and the scarab's nasty, thin leg was wrapped around her ankle. Her scream of pain was abruptly cut off when her head knocked into a tree. The beetle pulled her unconscious form away.
It took Doulzen a moment to process the scene, and then his heart thundered as he jumped after her. He'd said he wouldn't save her, said he couldn't be her protector, but seeing her limp and helpless tugged at a part of him he didn't understand. The image yanked at his insides, rearranging his thoughts until they fell into familiar patterns.
He was the hunter. The bug would be his prey.
His hunter instincts kicked in and he scanned the tree branches enclosing the forest around him. The leaves shook as the creature pulled backward through the undergrowth, trying to get back to its hole with Priya in tow. Her hair twisting up in dirt and rocks. With the scarab's concentration elsewhere, Doulzen hop-climbed up the nearest tree. Once he was high enough to actually see the creature's back, he slipped out on a limb, jumping from one tree to the next, until he was right over his prey. He followed it through the treetops until he spotted a way to cage it. A few lengths beyond the creature, broken limbs, still green, splintered from the side of a massive tree. The base of its trunk was partially charred, perhaps from a lightning strike within the last week. He could use it.
Doulzen jumped and swung his way over to one of the splitting branches. It cracked, but remained unbroken. He bent his knees, pushed up, and landed on the branch again. This time, it snapped and they both fell. He scrambled to find a handhold as he dropped from limb to limb. He finally latched onto another branch while the broken one he'd been riding hit the ground, blocking the creature's path. The beetle kept backing up over it anyway. Doulzen swung his body up to another splintered limb, jumping up and down on it until this one snapped as well and fell with a hard thunk onto the beetle's back.
A screech pierced his eardrums, and he resisted the urge to cover his ears. He needed one more broken limb to effectively trap the creature. He had it pinned from behind; now he needed something to block its front.
He pulled himself up and over to the only other branch left he might be able to break. Once upon it, he put all his might into jumping on it.
It cracked, but didn't fall.
Again, he jumped. Another crack.
Another jump, until finally the branch snapped and fell, trapping the creature as Doulzen rode the limb down to the ground. Once the branch landed in front of Priya's prone body, he didn't waste any time grabbing her while the scarab was distracted. She moaned as he moved her along the dirt and into his lap, away from the beetle.
The scarab thrashed, trying to break free, and then the ground shook. It began digging its way back into the earth. Doulzen took the opportunity to lift Priya's limp body into his arms. To his relief, the shadows began forming around him again and he used them to shadow-walk as far away from the beetle and up toward Ovander as possible, moving swiftly shadow to shadow, hiding among the trees.
It was dark before Doulzen felt comfortable enough to stop. His energy was depleted after messing with a giant killer beetle and then using his power over and over again for the better half of a day to keep the creature from following them. Priya had remained passed out in his arms the whole time, and he feared she might not wake. Humans could be harmed from hitting their heads like she had. But he also couldn't risk waking her until he knew they were safe.
He came to a tree with a large, cave-like hollow in its trunk. They could tuck away under it and wait out the rest of the night while his energy and power returned fully. He shadow-walked into the tree trunk. It had barely enough space to hunker down side by side. Doulzen carefully laid Priya o
n the ground. Angry red scratch marks littered her arms. He pulled out his flask, ripped a piece off the back of his shirt, and dabbed the wetted material along the cuts. Once satisfied, he pulled up her pant legs. Her right ankle was swollen. It must have been the one she'd hurt, but he checked both just to be safe. Thankfully, it was only the right. He poured more cool water over the strip of material and then wrapped up her ankle tightly. He used the shadows to check her over, searching through his night vision for any other injuries. When he was satisfied he had attended all of them, he let his shoulders relax.
Scooting down onto the ground with her, he moved Priya's head so she lay snug up against the crook of his arm and his chest. He put his hat over his face and linked his arms together, focusing on her breathing. With every small breath, her chest rose and fell. Her warmth engulfed him, even through his trench coat, and he found himself lulled into a hazy sleep beside her, ignoring the scent of garlic as it wafted on the slight breeze.
***
The sun woke Doulzen, and that's when he noticed Priya was no longer in his arms. He bolted up and hit his head solidly on wood. "Shit." He rubbed at his forehead and rolled. Doulzen grabbed his hat and slipped out of the tree trunk, his eyes scanning for Priya. He found her with a handful of berries, walking back toward the tree.
"Good, you're awake!" She smiled.
There were some small scrapes along her chin and arms, but otherwise she seemed unharmed and was hardly limping anymore. "I was worried about you. Glad to see you're okay." His voice sounded forced even to him. He cleared his throat.
"Good as can be expected. Thanks for wrapping up my ankle." She sat in front of him and popped a berry into her mouth.
He was nearly jealous of the berry, other than the fact teeth were involved. Her tongue darted out to lick her lips and he pushed down the desire to find out what a berry tasted like in Priya's mouth. The sunlight cascaded over her dirty blue shirt, frazzled hair, and pale skin. He'd never seen anything more beautiful.
"We should probably head out. Ovander is a day away. I can't promise we'll make it before dark, but we'll come pretty close if we start now." Doulzen glanced down at the berries.
"Want some?" Priya offered.
"Nope, they're all yours."
She shrugged, then slipped the rest of the berries into her mouth before standing and motioning for him to go first. Her eyes were bright and he wondered what had put the shine in them. After everything that had happened yesterday, he had expected her to be really sore or something today. But she hardly seemed like she felt a thing. It was as if nothing had happened.
"And you're welcome, by the way," Priya said behind him after they started back along the trail to Ovander.
"It was a mutual effort, but thanks." Doulzen cringed inside for not thanking her sooner.
Not more than a few feet into their trek, the stench of garlic hit Doulzen's nose and he came to a halt in the middle of the trail.
"You have something that belongs to me." A male's voice called out from somewhere to their right. Priya's footfalls stopped behind him and she clutched at his trench.
He knew in that moment she was too vulnerable not to protect. He didn't claim to be a ladies' man or the best kind of guy either, but could he just leave her there to fend for herself? Nope. Fuck. Especially after he had already led her into danger. He couldn't walk away.
He came to the inevitable conclusion. "Nicholas, I presume?"
"Ah, Priya . . ." A tall, blocky hulk of a man stepped out between the trees. "You told him about us. I'm touched. But also hurt. You said you wanted to be alone, with the death of Dala and all. I wonder, did you tell him our secret?"
Nicholas had a lackey with him, some kind of sorcerer, who stepped out from behind Nicholas. Doulzen could smell the sulfur coming from the man. Sorcerers often reeked from the sulfur they used to help expedite their spells. Apparently, Nicholas wanted something to work fast.
"I don't think the female is yours." Doulzen readied his shadows. Daylight was not the prime moment to fight, especially at noon, when most shadows had retreated from the area. He was left with what lay under his trench. It would be more than enough to handle the bulky Nicholas, but the hekan sorcerer . . . Doulzen couldn't fathom what the man was really capable of. Sorcerers chose either a dark or light path, making them a witch or a warlock. But it probably didn't matter what side this particular sorcerer had chosen. Against a shade in daylight . . . the man might actually win. The darkness slipped around his fingers, close to his body, hidden from the light of the sun. He'd only get one chance. He would shoot for the hekan first and then handle Nicholas.
"I see you might not understand. I've laid claim to this one since I first laid eyes on her. And there isn't a single thing in this entire world that could take her from me . . . not even her own formidable willpower." Nicholas snapped his fingers.
The sorcerer disappeared, and Priya's strangled cry sounded from behind him. He turned when she let go of his trench. Her eyes had glossed over pure white and her body twitched oddly. Doulzen grabbed her shoulder and she nearly toppled over, trying to keep eye contact with Nicholas.
In the chaos, her blouse slipped from her left shoulder, and there before him sat a three-starred crescent, the sign of Nyx. His wrist burned, and memories began flooding back of the dream from the woman who claimed to be his maker. The one who would take away his hekan powers, the magic given to him by Erebus, making him vulnerable . . . making him human, if he didn't find and bond with his fated mate. The goddess had stood tall beside an altar in a stone building. Bright, otherworldly red hair had slid along her regal robes, complementing intelligent emerald eyes. The floor had been covered by a symbol, a circle with a full moon and a rising moon. He'd stood just inside that circle.
His heart thundered in his chest as he tried to catch a breath. Images of the dream clouded his vision. His hand slipped free of Priya, and he fell to his knees as everything, every word, every image flooded back to him.
Priya was his.
Chapter 8
She could see it happening. She watched as her body left Doulzen's grip and stumbled into Nicholas's arms. She wanted to cry out, shudder, hit him, anything, but she had no control. When Nicholas had shown up, she'd barely registered his scent before she'd heard his words. The shadow hunter had found her. She would die. She knew it in every part of her being. Every step into him, with him . . .
His long fingers slid down her bare arms and she unwillingly leaned into him. Deep inside this shell of her body, she seethed. When she was free from whatever restrained her, she would break those fingers and anything else he touched her with. Magic had her and she couldn't force it out, not yet at least. It hovered inside her body, invading, filling, bloating her to keep her in check. As a firebird, she had her own magic, but normally it resided in her feathers . . . Could she do something internally, something to push the magic out of her?
She tried to will everything out, to push out anything but her own essence. There was a shove back, her body stumbled, and Nicholas caught her.
"Now, now, little bird. You are mine, one way or the other. Get comfortable. I'm never letting you go." His words hissed over her flesh. He licked the side of her cheek and her stomach roiled. She'd always been a bit creeped out by him, but had she ever thought he could have been a shade? How could she have been so stupid? The trees whirled by at impossible speeds, leaving her dizzy from their unnatural mode of travel. So this was how shadow hunters outran even a firebird's impressive speed. It was like spinning in circles until everything ran together. Then it stopped and they stood in what seemed to be a bedroom.
Her body swayed and Nicholas kept his hold on her waist, his hands so hot they felt like they'd burn through her. He turned her body to face him. His eyes darkened, lids lowering, and one hand slowly cupped her cheek. He stroked her flesh, eyeing her mouth as if he'd devour it at his first opportunity. Gads! He already had her body, what would he do with it? She needed her fucking control back. She tr
ied again to shove the invading magic out—pushing as hard as she could against the invisible barrier inside her head. But there was no give. She was trapped inside herself and she couldn't do a damn thing but watch whatever came next.
"When Dala first walked into Sterling with you by her side, I knew. I knew you would be mine. I followed her back to her little place outside the city. I watched you for days. Months. Years, even. I knew your schedules, knew when you bathed . . . knew when you shifted and flew together."
The sick, twisted, sorry excuse for a man. Her body heaved as if it would puke, but she involuntarily swallowed the bile that came up the back of her throat. He must have seen everything.
"I know what you're thinking, little bird. You are wondering if I watched you undress, if I knew when you had sex with that little bastard from the farm—what was it, six months ago now? Yes, well . . . he's been given a right good breaking in for touching your body." His mouth came up in a sly grin. "Scrawny little fuck, wasn't he?"
Tears streamed down her face. She felt their hot kiss as they slid to the side of her nose and fell over her top lip. Her tongue came out slowly and licked over the salty drops. Nicholas's eyes darkened further. He ran his nasty thumb over her bottom lip. Gads, how she wanted to bite it off.
"It's almost no fun if you can't fight back." Nicholas looked over his shoulder at the man who'd reappeared behind him. The newcomer smelled like sulfur. "Is there a way to keep her subdued but give her a little movement back without relinquishing control?"
The man shook his head no.
Horror filled Priya. They weren't shadow hunters. One was a witch. And Nicholas was a twisted fucking psychopath.
"Fine, get gone. I'll figure something out. Plenty to do with her in this state. How long will this spell last?"
"A couple hours," he said and then vanished.
"Good enough for me. Don't worry, little bird . . . I'll last plenty long enough." Nicholas pulled her into his body. His stiff dick hit the inside of her thigh and she puked in her mind, actually hurled. She couldn't stop herself. Dry heaves gripped her over and over until she finally caught her breath. The shell of her body shivered and inhaled with her. She knew what he was about to do, knew and could do nothing to stop him.
Dark Burn: Fated & Forbidden Page 4