Brother Of The Dark Places

by Miranda Bailey

  I think she might be right.

  6

  Aska

  He was coming near. I felt his presence as a crackle of static electricity along my skin. The feeling became more intense as he neared. He was coming to me!

  “No, no, no, no, no! Guard! Keep that dragon away from me! You can’t let him in here!” I shrieked it to world, my arms sticking out of the metal bars that made it possible for the guards to come in and look at me.

  My clansmen were in another section of the rarely used prison. It was so rarely used there were only 10 cells. How could that be possible in a land of thousands? Did crime just go unreported? The thought didn’t matter though because my heart started to race the moment I heard his footsteps.

  “Guards! Where are you? Don’t I have any kind of rights? You can’t let him in here! Guards!” I could hear the terror in my own voice, but nobody answered me, and nobody turned up to hear my pleas.

  “You can’t come in here, dragon! I refuse to see you. You can’t do this to me!” I started to back away from the door, but thought that might encourage him to come in.

  I could shift and fight him, or I could just bite his fingers. But I was so tore out of the frame that I couldn’t concentrate enough to shift as he came into view.

  Then my heart was thudding in my chest, because he was there. My body wanted him, it strained to be near him, but I couldn’t give in. I’d be lost if I gave in!

  My instincts warned me to run, away from him, or into his arms, but I should definitely run. Taka’s face to me it was time to play, but not to play it safe.

  He was everything I could want, everything I shouldn’t want, a man to rival the most gorgeous of warriors that history had known and he held me in his spell as he drew near.

  His eyes drilled into mine as he stalked towards me. I saw the heat in those mesmerizing dark blue eyes, so different from when they were gray, and knew where this was going, even if I didn’t want to go there.

  I hate fate, I thought as he put the key into the cell door and drew it open. I hate him, I hate my life!

  I couldn’t make myself move though. I stood there, frozen as he held his hand out to me. He took me in his arms, his hands moving over my body as seductively as he’d done before. I was lost to him, then, I couldn’t say no. My mouth wouldn’t let me.

  Our eyes met, our lips came close to touching before he pulled me to his body, and my head fell back, one last wall going up as I shook to feel him pressed into me so intimately. The thin cotton of the garments I’d been given did little to protect me from his heat. It was so much warmer here than it was in Endre’s land and I was paying the price for it.

  I looked up into those crystal blue eyes and saw my own desire reflected back to me. There was no way I was going to win, not against the dragon dancing just behind his eyes.

  He pulled me close once more, moving me until my lips were only a breath away from his. I felt a shiver run down my spine as he tipped my face up with one finger under my chin and caught a beam of afternoon light to illuminate my eyes with.

  He didn’t speak, we didn’t bother to exchange pleasantries, we simply let our senses run as wild as the animals hiding in our souls.

  I inhaled his clean scent, a fragrance I found alluring, it tempted me and caused a pang deep in my stomach that I knew was longing. I was familiar with that. The pang in my chest, of happiness, of something deeper wasn’t so familiar and it frightened me.

  I wanted to run, but the beauty of Taka’s strong Nordic face caught me in a snare. His eyes held me and I didn’t want to escape anymore.

  I let him take the lead as he moved me, back up against a wall before his lips fell to mine.

  His lips were warm, soft and plump. He gave me all of his passion with that one kiss and stormed over any last remaining walls as his tongue danced with mine.

  I held my breath and pulled away, my eyes staring into his still, my lips parted just slightly. I moved back to him and opened more, sliding me tongue out to wet his plump bottom lip. I nipped at it, loving the feel of him between my teeth.

  He growled then, and pulled me impossibly tighter against him. My legs moved to make space for him, until he’d lifted me and my legs were around his waist. He gave a low hum that rumbled in his chest, a sound of approval at my submission.

  I waited, afraid, but too lost. In an instant I’d given up two decades of training, I’d put my need for my father’s approval behind me, and fell into his arms. That was the power of the mating bond, the power I hadn’t known existed.

  He moved between my thighs, pressing a tight line into me that I could not ignore. I moved with him, my body perfectly made to accept his. He looked at me, as though he needed to make a decision and I waited, wondering what those narrowed eyes would decide. Had he decided to leave me? Had my fear cost me the one thing I wanted above all others now?

  Because I wanted Taka’s love. I needed it. If I was going to survive this turmoil of abandoning all I knew, of becoming someone else, then I needed his love to help me through it. For a moment I couldn’t believe I was even having these thoughts, I wanted to scream in protest, but then he sighed my name against my neck and my arms wound around his shoulders to hold him still.

  I didn’t speak, I didn’t try to sway him in any one direction, I just waited, my head tilted to the left, waiting for his decision.

  I watched him, my mate, as he came to a decision and moved again, my hand in his as he let me slide down from the wall. I pulled him to the single bed in the room, small but suitable for what we needed. The bed was also the only furniture in the room. I wished there was a proper door as anybody that came through might see us, or hear us, but I didn’t care, in the end. I needed him.

  I settled on the mattress, only slightly nervous. I knew what to expect now and almost felt a longing for it. I definitely felt a longing for him

  He pressed a knee between mine as he knelt over me, and I wanted to speak, I wanted to him speak so that I could hear his voice but his lips covered mine.

  With the sizzle of static cracking our lips met and our tangled together in a dance we were now familiar with. I felt a shiver run down my spine, straight into the area low on my back where Taka’s hand rested.

  I was already gone, his if only he’d have me. I wrapped my fighter’s arms around his neck, pulled him closer, reveling in the heat from his body, the realness of my dragon.

  I felt him pressing into me and gasped, he’d hit just the right spot as he pressed those lovely hips of his into mine.

  I pulled away, but only because my head was spinning and I needed some air.

  “Taka, this…,” but I didn’t know what to say. This is making me crazy, didn’t sound right. This is more than I deserve did sound right, but I wouldn’t admit something like that to him.

  “This is right, Aska. It is what was meant to be. I’m glad you understand that now.”

  I turned my head away, my body in agony because I’d stopped him, but I needed space, even for only a minute.

  “I’ve just never...,” but he interrupted again.

  “Aska, if you open yourself to me, you’ll know all there is to know about me. You’ll be me and I will be you. Then your worries will stop.” A wrinkle marred the space between his eyes for a moment, but it left quickly, leaving his face smooth.

  Sense wanted to prevail but I looked into his imploring eyes and my worry washed away.

  It wasn’t a matter of being “good” enough for the dragon now, or even that I hadn’t wanted any of this. It was making sure I didn’t mess it all up down the line.

  Pushing my face to his, I brushed his lips with mine, and moved down the right side of his face, feeling the smoothness of his cheek until my lips met his beard. I could feel the strong outline of his jaw beneath the softness of his beard, and cupped his face between my hands.

  “If you know me that well, Taka, and you still want me,” I stopped a shiver coursing through me when I thought about all of the very bad thing
s there was to know about me, “then make us one.”

  I heard his breath inhale sharply and felt him relax against me. My dragon, the dragon I should not have, was pleased. Inhaling deeply I smelled his scent again, his own personal smell that made me feel like I was home, and nipped at the flesh where his pulse was beating swiftly.

  “Hurry, dragon, someone might interrupt us soon.” I was eager to have him within me was more like, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.

  He chuckled in appreciation, his head dropping to allow me better access to his neck.

  “I think you’re just an eager pup, wolf.” His hand on my back slid down to my bottom and tilted me up into him.

  “You could be right.” My hands roamed, pushing away the leather shirt he wore, seeking out the hard silky flesh I knew was beneath.

  I sighed against his throat when I felt his muscled chest, the warmth familiar and soothing. I sighed again when I felt his even more muscled back.

  I slid my hands down, down to the round outline of his ass in the linen pants, his hard muscles flexing at my cupping touch.

  I pressed his round bottom into me, into my heated center, and we both moaned.

  He’d allowed my exploration, let me have my fill of touching and looking, but now he wanted more, he wanted…me.

  Pulling his body back, he moved down my chest, his hands cupping my rounded breasts, learning their shape and weight before he moved on. He didn’t pause for long, with a greedy movement his hands moved down my hard, flat abdomen, honed by hours of sword fighting. He moved lower, to the area covered by my own cotton pants, to that part of me that ached the most for his touch. He tugged at the pants and I popped the buttons, lifting my hips to help.

  His hands brushed my pants away and for the first time in my life I felt a hot, lapping tongue sliding into my center and I nearly jerked off of the bed.

  His hand came up to smother my cry of pleasure; there was no privacy in this prison, so I didn’t protest the move.

  There was something enticing about having his hand over my mouth, closing off my cries of pleasure. I was never going to be dominated, but there was something about the move that made what we were doing illicitly, and that thrilled me.

  My eyes opened wide when he spread my folds open so that he could flatten his tongue on and take a long swipe of me.

  “I want to taste all of you, Aska. Open wider.” His words were a touch of their own, a cool breeze on my hot skin, and I let my legs fall open wide.

  I pushed my hips up on each stroke of his tongue, unable to control myself. My breasts jolted as I struggled to breathe through the sensations rocketing through my body, losing myself, losing reality as his tongue teased me into a storm of sensations.

  I looked down at his head in the fading light, talented tongue stroking up and down my cleft, until I wanted to die from the tension inside of me.

  When he began a tormenting circle with his finger around the button hidden there I exploded, giving in to his demands, into my own for release.

  I let myself go with a scream he muffled against his hand, and knew I’d made the right choice to let him in. Even if it hadn’t really been a choice.

  As I felt each pulsing wave I knew I’d been right, and really truly let go of all of my walls.

  I saw my dragon, waiting for me in the light, my Viking warrior, so tame from the wild man he was long ago. He’d matured, become calm, but he still had that dangerous air about him, even here in this nirvana we’d created.

  Taka gave me only moment to catch my breath before he pulled my bare legs up, and drove into me. He wanted to truly join me in our heaven.

  “Taka!” I knew it was a scream, a scream that wasn’t muffled, but didn’t care. He was coming to me. With pounding, driving thrusts, Taka was coming for me. To become me so that I could become him.

  There were no more questions, no distractions, just him as he pushed into me. We rose together, as he kissed me until we were there, truly together.

  I knew love then, I knew how it felt to love and be loved. I knew what Taka wanted, his hopes, his dreams, the things he never spoke about to others. I understood the hurt he’d felt so long ago when he was the youngest brother and left at home to be safe with his mother. I knew his first triumph when they crossed the sea to find riches. I knew that first moment when he saw me in my wolf form, and knew I was his mate.

  He hadn’t dreaded it, he hadn’t cringed, he’d just been relieved to find me at last.

  We twined together in that place, one being with two minds. I didn’t notice a thing about it other than it was white and we were in it. We sank back into our own world, and I thought we were done.

  He twisted around me, pulled me to sit on top of him, and I sank into his hard flesh, gasping as I finally sank down, taking every inch he had to offer me.

  Taka looked up at me, a grim expression on his face, concentration mixed with desire.

  I started to move and his hands went to my waist, helping me to move on him, guiding me as I pulled up, then plunged back down onto him, and I learned what it meant to be in control. Sex had never been like this for me before, it had never taken so long, and Taka was showing me how wonderful it really could be.

  I pressed my left hand to the prison wall, bracing myself as I worked my hips on him. I wanted to hear his pants again. I wanted to find that light with him once more.

  “That’s it, Aska, baby. Take what you want from me.” His low words sent a shock through my body, but I didn’t stop.

  His voice a balm to my needy soul. A soul I didn’t think I owned anymore, not until now.

  I let my head fall back and rocked him, as he requested, as he demanded. A demand my body mirrored.

  Naked and vulnerable, I rode him without shame, without fear that he would break me, and when his thick thumb found my clit and his sweet lips found my nipple I found the perfect angle.

  We came apart together, and reformed once more as one. I could a wicked grin on my face, far more wicked than anything I’ve ever grinned before, and didn’t care. Taka was mine and I was his, and the world couldn’t stop us. Not even my father.

  There was no love me please, no words of adoration, no pesky trust issues or undying declarations of loyalty, there was only us and what we knew to be true. There wasn’t even the silly idea of romance, this was the mating. Brutal raw need, and then a beautiful unspoiled nirvana that only we could create; that was all we shared and neither of us cared anymore what had caused that need.

  I greedily took the pleasure he offered and gave it back to him with abandon, using our bodies in ways we’ve never dreamed of, squeezing at each other, our fingers gently rolling the other into another minute of being completely one, Alpha and Omega. There was nothing that could tear us apart.

  7

  Taka

  There was nothing that could tear us apart, except Airitech, perhaps, and he was storming the gates, so to speak.

  Somehow, the wolf had managed to break into Wruin’s protected lands, and had brought a proper army with him this time. Screams pierced my ears, smoke filled the air, and all I could do was run to find Aska. It had been three weeks, we had all started to hope that Airitech had admitted defeat at least, but we should have known.

  Aska was blossoming here, in this place where she didn’t experience pain every day, where she was treated as a being that deserved respect. Her relationship with Abigail had certainly helped. At first, she’d bristled to meet her sister, but now, they were the best of friends.

  They understood that their father had kept them apart, and any resentment Aska had felt towards Abigail disappeared upon meeting her almost-twin. Aska’s father had made Abigail out to be the golden child, the perfect one, but Abigail wasn’t perfect to anyone except her mate.

  She had her foibles, the same as all of us, and Aska was unsurprisingly pleased to know that. She’d worked hard to build a bond with Endre’s mate, Thyra as well, and Holly, Abigail’s friend.

  Aska loved Thyr
a’s tattoos and wanted some of her own, but said she’d have to travel to all of those places again and she didn’t want to do that without me. I’d been on the verge of moving all of my people back to our own land and couldn’t take the time off so we’d been waiting. Now, we might never get the chance.

  “Endre!” I shouted my brother’s name as he fought a ravenous wolf, one bent on latching down on his arm in the hopes of pulling it off. “Shift!” I cried out to him, and Endre did as instructed.

  Wruin and Endre might have forgotten our training all those centuries ago, but I hadn’t. I’d been a berserker in those days, wild on mushrooms and the training all men such as myself had come to learn. I went through the mantras now, driving myself into a frenzy as I clutched at the sword in my hand.

  I would stay in my human state as long as I could. Then I’d shift.

  Wolves and goblins launched themselves at me, but I batted them away with the sharp steel of my blade, blood spraying over me until I was covered. My heart beat out a tattoo, Aska, Aska, but I had to help Endre first.

  I heard Endre shout in pain and turned to see two goblins tearing at his legs. I ran to him, hacking at the goblins until they scrambled away on what was left of their own legs.

  “Cover my back, I’ll cover yours.” I could see people screaming and running, some in terror, others in glee, as Endre and I forced our way to the tree that was Wruin’s home. He was there, sending the children of his land through a portal to my home.

  “Where are the women?” I shouted, looking for Aska but not seeing her. Aska had been released from the prison the night she finally gave in to our bond and had been living with me since.

  “On the other side, directing the children.” His face was calm, without panic, but I could see a vein pulsing in his head.

  “Where is Aska?” She’d come to visit Abigail earlier in the day and hadn’t returned when I heard the first scream. Now, I looked out, searching for my mate, but saw only a stream of fleeing people headed for portals, and a river of Airitech’s army. Cold, killing fear flooded me as I saw just how many there were.