by Juniper Hart
She was too late. A smiley bomb bounced directly towards her face. Her eyes widened, but she knew she couldn’t do anything. The bombs were equipped with timers, and the barely audible beeps came faster and faster indicating the bomb was about to detonate.
She closed her eyes and braced herself for the end.
A sudden jolt made her open her eyes as Storm shielded her from the explosion with his body. The bomb exploded with enough force to physically throw them into the air. When they came crashing down, he still had his massive body wrapped around hers, and when they landed, his body felt like a rock as they fell the ground and knocked every bit of her air out. But at least she was alive.
“Storm!” she cried.
Storm pinned her to the ground. “Stay still!” he snarled. His voice was tight with pain.
The rest of the bombs bounced over them, and Storm got up, swearing viciously. She caught a glimpse of his back. His entire sweater had been vaporized, and his broad back had caught most of the impact.
He snarled in pain, bending over and gasping.
“Oh my God!” Lilith yelped.
“I’m fine,” he choked out. “I’ll heal. You have… You have to hold him off.”
She was going to do more than hold him off. She was going to strangle the bastard.
“Night Star!” she shouted towards the entrance. “I’m in here, you asshole!”
Night Star’s silky-smooth voice came through. He was in the cave with them. He must have dropped in while Lilith and Storm were running. “I know that, Red Shadow.”
“You were supposed to be dead,” Lilith protested.
“The rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated,” grunted the Slayer. He shouldered his way into the light.
He looked dead. His suit was torn, and he walked with a limp. “Storm’s guards beat me up and tossed me in the lake, chained up. Takes a hell of a lot more than that to kill me.”
Lilith groaned. She’d hoped he wouldn’t be armed, so she could take him on. Not so. He had his rifle in his hand. If she made a move for him, he’d gun her down before she moved two feet. Her whip wouldn’t do any good. Storm was beside her, kneeling and obviously in great deal of pain. She couldn’t do anything.
“What the hell you been doing?” Night Star demanded. “I get mauled, and you look fine. But you didn’t care. You ran out here to get the bounty by yourself, didn’t you?”
He didn’t know. She realized abruptly that Night Star had no idea that the infamous Red Shadow was no longer trying to kill Storm.
“Yes,” she said. “But I thought you were dead!”
Night Star spread his arms. His mask, torn and ragged, hung about his face. The guy valued secrecy above all else. “Well, guess what. I’m not.”
He looked at her, then Storm—all while walking ever closer, to the very edge of her whip’s radius.
After a long pause, Night Star said, “Hold on. You…” His voice turned angry. “You’re working with him!”
“Yep!” Lilith snapped, while rearing her whip back and slashing at him.
Lilith knew her time was extremely limited before Night Star could reach for his gun and shoot her. Because they were only standing about eight feet apart, she hoped her whip would do enough damage to slow him down.
It worked.
The whip caught him in the leg, which wasn’t what she had planned, but it startled him enough to give her time to pounce at him. He jerked the gun towards her and squeezed the trigger. A stream of bullets whistled past her, one skimming her ribs
By this time, she was close enough to him to grab the barrel of the gun and twist it away from him. He was big and towered at least a foot above her small frame. He was also much stronger physically.
The one thing she had on him was speed. Her best chance to stay alive was to move quickly. She wasn’t about to let him hit her.
Red Shadow versus Night Star: the fight of the decade.
The two best Slayers in the business at each other’s throats. Her speed and agility against his strength and size.
The fight was furious and fast. Lilith wrestled his gun away from him, but it was a short-lived victory. He kicked her firmly in the chest with enough power to knock her onto her back. When she got up, he rolled his neck and slid his hands into a weapon she wasn’t prepared to face—brass knuckles with spikes on the end. They were cruel weapons, designed to maul and brutalize.
Night Star spat. “Traitor! I’m going to kill you first, then the beast.”
He advanced on her, leaving Storm in the background. Lilith couldn’t see Storm well. The last thing she saw was blood pouring from the wound on his back.
“You don’t have to do this,” Lilith panted. Her chest was aching. He’d kicked her hard.
“Nope,” he said. “I’m doing this because I want to.”
She slashed at him with the whip, but he was too close. Way too close. The whip didn’t hit him with enough force to do any damage.
He punched at her with the knuckle spikes and tore the whip out of her hand while she was distracted. He threw the whip down, away from them both. An amateur would swing for the head. It was certainly the most tempting target, but it was also the easiest to miss. He swung at her chest. She deflected his shot and brought her knee up into his groin. Even he had to feel that.
He did.
He let out a grunt of pain. That was it. It gave her three, maybe four seconds of respite at most. He was back at her in a second. He swung once more. She saw it coming and got him into an arm lock, forcing his arm into a painful bend. She got behind him so that he couldn’t get her with his knuckles. He shouted in agony as she pushed him down to the ground.
She made the mistake of looking for Storm.
Her enemy took full advantage of her lapse in judgment. She had him firmly in her grasp. He didn’t try to fight that. Instead, he brought his other hand around—with the brass knuckles—into Lilith’s arm. She saw it coming and jerked back, barely missing getting skewered. As it was, the brass slid into her skin on her shoulder. They effectively slashed a rent in her muscle. She tripped while jumping back and tumbled off the edge of the rock.
She fell down a small hill of stone in the cave, finally coming to a stop only after being submersed in darkness. She watched the outline of Night Star’s tattered form walk towards her with her blood dripping off his knuckles.
Lilith was almost positive that she had broke several ribs falling down the cave, and a bullet had grazed her skin, although she was luck it didn’t enter her body. It was dark, and when she attempted to get up, her hand slipped and she wiped out. She stood up as he scooped up her whip. It crackled with energy, illuminating his face in way that made him resemble a wicked paranormal entity.
That’s when a shape loomed up behind him like a mountain, silent and deadly. Storm. He raised up his hand. She could just barely see dozens of sharp fangs glitter in the darkness.
Night Star didn’t see him. He kept walking, confident in his ability to kill Lilith right then and there. He’d go back for Storm and come back with two heads: that of the Keeper of the Wind and that of the infamous Red Shadow.
“Are you going to beg?” he asked her.
“Doubt it.” Her eyes flickered up at the dragon form of Storm.
Storm reared back a paw and slashed at Night Star. The strength of Storm’s claw sliced right through Night Star, slicing him into five pieces as his remaining body parts fell to the cold stone floor beneath him. Through the darkness, Lilith saw dark, viscous liquid pool around Night Star’s dismembered body.
Storm shifted down to his human form and staggered over to her. “You’re hurt!”
“I’m fine.” She held her hand over her shoulder, ignoring the pain from the cut. It probably looked worse than it felt. “You’re the one who should be worried,” she said. “Your back!”
She turned him around to see… nothing. His skin had healed.
“What are you?”
“A dragon,” he replied. He
took her face in his hands, checking for injures. “Are you really okay? No internal injuries.”
“I’m pretty sure I broke some ribs.”
“Good thing you’re tough.”
She laughed and then inhaled deeply as the pain set in. She was the proud owner of a couple broken ribs. No doubt about it.
He extended a hand. She took it, and he helped her to her feet gently. Together, they walked to the cave entrance. She reached down and snatched her whip.
“That’s mine, thank you,” she told Night Star’s body. Then, she faced Storm. “You told me Night Star was dead.”
“My men told me he was.”
“They didn’t make sure?”
“I’ll find who was responsible and punish them severely. I’m just happy we’re alive.”
Lilith looked back at Night Star’s body. “Think anyone heard the explosions?’
“I will be indescribably furious if nobody comes after that. My men will definitely be able to pinpoint our location now.”
“That’s a good point, actually.”
Lilith kept eying the stalactites. Most of them had come down with the smiley face balls of death. The few that had stayed were dangerously close to breaking free and plummeting. It would be tragic if Storm and Lilith survived everything that they had only to get mauled by nature.
“Hey!” called someone. “Sir! Sir, are you down there?”
Lilith wasn’t sure how she felt about getting rescued. She was ready to get away from Night Star. She wasn’t quite ready to leave Storm yet.
I’ll give him a shot, she decided.
10
Lilith anticipated seeing the famed residence of the Keeper of the Wind. No Slayer had ever found it, but if the legends were true, it was magnificent.
Storm’s guards had shifted into their dragon forms to carry them home. Storm’s wing was still torn, so he also had to be flown home by his men.
The rumors didn’t do the house justice. Storm’s residence was built entirely from stone and resembled a Gothic Cathedral with large pointed arches and flying buttresses.
“How can you possibly need that much space?” asked Lilith as they approached his home.
“I rule a kingdom of dragons, Lilith. I’ve spent thousands of years building this.”
He led her through the castle and up to a luxurious wing that looked like it had been designed for her. The hallways were lined with impressionist paintings from Claude Monet and Edgar Degas. They couldn’t be originals though, could they?
As if Storm heard her thoughts, he answered. “They’re originals. I knew you loved these artists.”
“How?”
“I told you. I had dreams about you. I knew you’d be coming.”
Storm stopped at a large set of French doors. “Your quarters, my lady,” Storm said as he motioned for her to go inside the room.
Stunning wasn’t the right word. Magnificent? It didn’t matter. The room was perfect.
A beautiful stone fireplace lined one wall, and a large, four-poster bed looked like it was calling her name. The room was decorated in a dark green, which had been her favorite color since she was child. A large window overlooked a beautiful, snow-capped mountain range. She felt like she was finally in a place where she belonged.
Storm walked over to a teak dresser ornately carved with roses and dragons. He motioned for Lilith to come near the dresser as he opened the top drawer. Lilith peeked inside and found a drawer full of shoe socks, size small.
“You really do know me better than I thought,” she said with a smile.
“I want you to be happy here if you choose to stay. You will have your own space as we get to know each other, so you don’t feel any pressure.”
Lilith leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
Storm placed his hand over the area where she had kissed as if he wanted to hold onto the moment forever.
“I am going to leave and give you some space. A healer will be here in just a few minutes to check on your injuries.” He pointed to the far side of the room, “There’s a bathroom over there. You will find everything you need.” Then he pointed to the opposite side of the room to the open door of a walk-in closet that looked like it was bigger than her whole apartment. “You can find clothes, pajamas, and everything else you need in there.”
The healer was able to give Lilith a balm to heal her wounds and wrapped a bandage around her ribs, which seemed to heal them. It wasn’t instantaneous, but the pain subsided substantially.
The shower was exactly what she needed, and she almost felt like herself again. She wrapped herself in the plush terrycloth towels and made her way out of the bathroom to find some pajamas in her bigger-than-life closet.
As she walked back into the bedroom, she saw Storm sitting on the edge of her bed. He had evidently showered and wore a black track suit.
As soon as he laid eyes on her, he bit down on his lower lip. “Wow. You look stunning.”
“Thanks,” she answered, feeling self-conscious that she was only wearing a towel.
“Do you want to meet me downstairs? Or I can come back when you’re dressed?”
Lilith thought for a moment, but she definitely wanted him to stay. She dropped the towel and it slid down her body before landing on the floor, leaving her naked before his lustful eyes.
In a flash, Storm rushed over to her, picked her up, and laid her on the bed before kissing her with such intensity she could hardy catch her breath.
Immediately, a burst of sensation traveled down to her core, making the area between Lilith’s legs glisten with her nectar.
He pulled away and stared at her with eyes that were gentle and full of kindness, yet had an animalistic passion behind them. She grabbed his face between the palms of her hands and pulled his lips to hers once again.
Not wanting clothes to get in her way, she peeled off his hoodie and lifted his t-shirt up and over his head. His skin felt warm against hers, and the fire between them had been ignited. There was no turning back.
Storm kissed her neck, then slowly trailed kisses down to her chest. Taking an erect nipple in his mouth, his tongue swirled around the pink bud making Lilith moan out loud. Storm kissed lower and lower until his teeth grazed her inner thigh.
Grabbing the sheets in both hands, she inhaled deeply as Storm grabbed both hips and moved her center of femininity closer to his eager mouth. The shockwaves of ecstasy pulsed through her body as she writhed beneath his touch.
She felt the pressure building and building as he expertly applied pressure to her most sensitive spot, until with one quick movement, Storm ripped off his pants and thrust into her, letting out a primal growl.
His huge erection moved in and out of her over and over as their bodies rocked back and forth in a primal dance.
She couldn’t take it anymore as she felt herself let go and shudder around him. Storm’s hot juices shot into her as he released simultaneously.
He rolled off her, and she placed her head on his chest while nuzzling closer to him.
“That was amazing,” she confided, stroking his ego. She meant it.
“It was even better than my dream,” he said as he kissed the top of her head.
Lilith never believed in fate or love at first sight. She did however believe that she never wanted to be with another man—or beast—ever again. Storm was hers, and she liked the feeling that she was his.
“I know that you said we’d be together for eternity, but you have to realize, I will grow old. Will you still want me when my skin sags and I start losing my memory?”
“I’ll always want to be with you,” he said, stroking her cheek. “But if you decide to stay and start a family with me, that’s when you’ll become immortal.”
“What do you mean?”
“If we choose to have a baby, your body will take on a dragon form so you can carry my child. That’s when you will take on your immortal form.”
The thought scared her, frightened her, and excited her
at the same time. The Slayer tattoo between her should blades stopped tingling, and Lilith knew that the charmed ink had disappeared, releasing her of all ties to the Slayer world.
“I think you should stay here in my room,” Lilith said.
“I would love to stay with you tonight,” Storm said.
“Not tonight,” answered Lilith. “Forever.”
THE END
Part V
Game of Love: A Billionaire Romance
By Alexis Davie
1
Tanya removed the last of her luggage from the trunk of the cab. Slamming it shut, she placed her hands on her hips and looked up at the building in front of her, which would be her temporary home. She had spent the summer after graduation in her hometown of Crawfordsville, Indiana. Her parents had retired to Florida, and she was ready to begin her new life in New York.
“I can’t believe you’re finally here!” a voice screamed. A blur of brown hair and arms flew down the steps towards her, pulling Tanya into a tight hug.
Beaming from ear-to-ear, Tanya wrapped her arms back around the woman holding her close.
“Come on, let’s get you upstairs and settled. I’m sorry I couldn’t meet you at the airport. The shoot went hours longer than it was supposed to, which kept me tied up most of the day.”
“It’s okay, Sarah. I’m just glad to be here,” Tanya replied. She looked all around, unable to fight the smile that took over her features. She had always dreamt of living in a big city, but now her new job and her big sister, Sarah, were making that dream a reality.
“I know, and you’re going to love it! Let me help you with your luggage.”