by Copper Cole
Talia gasped, frozen in shock as Genevieve played what she’d seen. Genevieve watched Talia’s eyes go wide. Her breathing picked up. Every single thing Genevieve had seen regarding the Fallen she showed Talia. She felt Kota’s unease. Not taking her eyes off Talia’s, Genevieve reached her hand back toward Kota. When she felt his hand in hers, she guided him to Talia’s side.
“She feels no pain, Kota. She only sees what she needs to see.” Eli spoke, moving to Genevieve’s other side.
Finally, when the last of the visions had been shown to Talia, Genevieve let go of her hand and back away from her. Talia stood silently for a moment, and then she said, “I don’t care what the visions say. I will fight beside you.” With those words hanging in the air, Talia held her head high and walked out of the gym.
“Well, I guess that’s settled then,” Eli said.
Kota watched her walk away, a look of longing in his eyes. “I won’t force her to stay away. When the fight comes, we will need numbers. She’s an excellent fighter, and she’s strong. We must all stay together. If we get separated, we risk losing.”
Kota followed behind Talia. Genevieve rested her head against Eli’s chest. She worried about him and Kota, but surprisingly she feared losing Talia as well. She didn’t know her, but somewhere deep inside of her, Genevieve felt connected to Talia, connected in a way she couldn’t explain to anyone else.
“He’s right, love, we need the numbers. She’s strong and will be of great use to us.”
“Eli, she isn’t something we can just use as we please. She’s a person, a shifter, with feelings and weaknesses. If he loses her, he’ll go to a dark place I don’t think he’ll come out of.”
“Then we protect them both.” Genevieve looked at her mate in shock. “What? I don’t like the guy, but I can relate.” He placed his strong hands on either side of her face, and looked deep into her eyes. “If I lost you I would cease to exist.”
Wrapping her arms around his waist, she breathed him in. In a few short hours the Fallen would be in the compound, and she had little time to wallow in what could or couldn’t happen.
“Okay, we need to prepare the compound. Lock the Generals away in different safe rooms. I know the Fallen don’t care what happens to the Generals tonight, but we have to protect them all the same.” She stopped talking when Eli placed his lips against hers.
When he pulled away, he spoke in a whisper. “It’s about you, Genevieve. The Fallen only want you. They will stop at nothing to make sure you die.” His words sent a shiver up her spine. “I’m sorry if this scares you, but as much as we need to protect the Generals, I have to protect you.”
He kissed her again, and then they walked toward the main house. Halfway there an explosion rocked the entire compound. Genevieve lost her balance and fell against the wall. Eli shielded her body with his as debris fell from the ceiling.
“No! It’s not time yet. They can’t be here!”
“We have to find Kota and Talia.”
Her ears rang from the explosion, and she felt confused. Genevieve sprang to her feet, looking at Eli with pleading eyes. “The shifters, Eli, we have to find the shifters.”
“It will weaken you too much to dematerialize us both. Go, Genevieve, sense them out and go to them. I’ll find you as soon as I can.” He kissed her forehead, and then her lips, before he took off down the long corridor.
Genevieve couldn’t let him go alone. She couldn’t stomach the thought of him fighting without her by his side. She knew they needed to find the shifters. If the four of them fought together then they were unstoppable. She dematerialized and reappeared in front of Eli. He looked at her strangely just before she grabbed his arms, making them both vanish. She reached out with her mind until she sensed Kota. When she materialized again she immediately felt the effects. Kota and Talia stood unscathed in one of the bedrooms at the far end of the main house.
“What’s happening?” Talia asked.
“The Fallen,” Kota answered. He moved to Genevieve when she swayed.
“She needs your blood. I told her it would take too much out of her if she transferred both of us.”
As Kota offered his wrist to Genevieve, she heard Talia’s thoughts. Quickly blocking Eli and Kota out so they wouldn’t be privy to the information, she listened closely. She had no idea why she felt the need to block them, but it felt right. “Take my blood, Seer. This is the only way to find me should something happen.”
Genevieve walked past Kota and gently took Talia’s wrist. She lowered her fangs, and struck quickly. Talia’s blood tasted heady like Kota’s, but with a sweet tang. She drank deeply but avoided taking enough to weaken Talia. When she felt strong enough, she pulled out of Talia’s wrist and backed away. She hated keeping anything from Eli or Kota, but she needed their heads in the game, not worried about what may or may not happen. Apparently her visions weren’t one hundred percent.
“We must fight now.” Genevieve took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and walked forward.
* * * *
Eli watched his mate walk with her head held high. On the way past his room, he grabbed his weapons. He handed two daggers to Genevieve, but as he handed more weapons to Kota and Talia, they shook their heads. Both of them started to tremble, the foundation of the house groaned as the wind kicked up, and the shift started. Their bones popped and cracked, and then standing before Genevieve and Eli were two wolves. One of them was Kota, big, gray, and with glowing yellow eyes. The other was a beautiful, solid white wolf with ice blue eyes.
Genevieve reached out and touched the white wolf’s coat, and suddenly Eli’s mind was filled with thoughts coming from three beings now instead of Kota and Genevieve. A bond had been made, albeit a much more subdued one, but a bond none the less. Eli didn’t have time to focus on that because he could hear shouts and screams coming from the lower level of the house.
“We stay together, and we fight.” Kota made eye contact with each of them before he and Talia took point and led the way.
Downstairs, chaos ensued. The Fallen outnumbered them two to one. The Generals were holding their own but were being pushed back into a corner. Asa and a few other warriors stood in front of the Generals, fighting with all the strength they possessed. Kota, Talia, Genevieve, and Eli fell into the ranks. The wolves stood large and menacing in front of Genevieve but allowed her to fight. The black blood of the Fallen spilled in currents. Genevieve fought with poise and skill. Her blades sliced through the pale skin of the Fallen with ease.
Quicker than anyone could have guessed, their line was split. Kota, Eli, and Genevieve stood on one side of the room while Talia stood trapped between three of the Fallen. She snapped and twisted her body, trying desperately to get back to the others. The Fallen kept her cornered though. They threw a net and trapped her. Before anything could have been done Talia was nowhere to be seen. Genevieve screamed and dematerialized. Eli thought she’d gone after Talia. However, when she materialized again she stood in front of Sophia just as a spear had been thrust toward the female General.
“No!” Eli shouted, rushing to Genevieve’s side as she slumped forward.
He caught Genevieve with one arm and shoved his blade into the Fallen’s chest until it dissipated into nothing. Sophia stood with wide eyes, taking in the sight of Genevieve bleeding on the floor where she should have been. Kota let out loud, haunted howl after he finished off the final Fallen soldier.
“Look at me, love,” Eli urged as he kneeled down next to his mate.
His heart pounded in his chest. His lungs burned with the pain of trying to breathe. His eyes stung with some foreign emotion.
Eli felt Kota next to him as he paced back and forth. Kota’s focus fell on Genevieve and Genevieve alone. Eli picked up on fragmented thoughts of Talia, but until the Seer was safe and healed, the shifter would think of nothing else.
“Eli,” Sophia whispered as she knelt down on the other side of Genevieve.
“You don’t touch her! Not after the way you treated her
. You tried to kill her less than twenty-four hours ago.”
“I didn’t mean those things.” The air of confidence Sophia normally carried around had been replaced by guilt and sadness. “She is the Seer. The most important thing to all of us, and I am truly sorry for my actions.”
Eli did something he never thought he would do. He pushed Sophia away, ignoring the disapproving murmurs of the other Generals. He lifted Genevieve into his arms, her blood soaking his shirt, and carried her away from the disaster area. He knew Kota followed because he heard his rapid breaths and impatient grunts. When Eli reached the furthest corner of the house, he laid Genevieve down on the bed. He ripped her shirt away to inspect the wound that went all the way through to her back.
He felt the atmosphere shudder as Kota shifted into his human form. Suddenly, Eli found himself backing away from Genevieve despite his resistance. Kota crawled onto the bed and brushed Genevieve’s hair away from her face. She looked pale, and a light sheen of sweat covered her skin. Kota tried to cut his skin so he could get his blood into her, but he didn’t have anything sharp enough.
“Kota, you have to let me get closer. I can bite you.” Desperation rolled off Eli in waves as he waited.
He felt the barrier give a little under Kota’s uncertainty. A moment later, he could finally move to the bed. Slowly, he reached for Kota’s arm, bit his wrist, and then found himself slammed against the wall on the opposite side of the room as the barrier flew back up. Eli watched helplessly as Kota pressed his wrist to Genevieve’s mouth. She didn’t drink. She didn’t even move. Her chest was barely rising and falling with breath as the life seeped out of her and onto the bed.
“You must drink from me, Seer!” Kota leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. As he pulled away, the same glow that went from his mouth to hers during her transformation emanated from him.
Kota moved from her mouth to the wound in her side. He ran his tongue over the hole in her skin, sealing it. If she moved even slightly, it would reopen. Genevieve’s eyes fluttered. Kota wasted no time as he held his bleeding wrist over her open mouth. Her pale lips were parted, and his blood dripped rapidly into her.
Eli paced, worried sick for his mate, and what losing her at the hands of the Fallen would do to the vampire race. Slowly, he started getting flickering images in his head from her flashes of the battle. There was worry for the Generals and an overwhelming fear for Talia. Eli, finally able to move, inched his way to the bed.
“You know what we have to do, vampire.”
Eli shed his clothes, crawled onto the bed, bit his own wrist, and held it over her mouth. As Eli’s powerful blood mixed with the healing blood of the shifter, Genevieve opened her eyes. Instead of the beautiful hazel he loved so much, her eyes glowed with the empty white of the Seer.
Chapter Nine
Kota’s body ached to do what it had been meant to do, heal Genevieve by any means necessary. Eli eased her off the bed and rested her weight against his chest. Grabbing her hips and angling her pussy, Kota gripped his dick, stroked himself twice, and then pushed into her core. Genevieve gasped, her brow furrowing with pain the movement caused her. The eyes of the Seer never blinked, and she didn’t speak. Her mind was silent to him as well as Eli as her body slipped further into the healing trance.
Kota’s movements caused the wound to open and bleed. Eli eased into her ass as he wrapped one of his arms around her chest. He placed his other hand in front of the hole on the right side of her stomach. Kota held his hand near her back where the spear entered. As they both moved, a soft light emanated from both their hands.
Genevieve’s head lolled to the side, and Eli grabbed her chin, holding her mouth open. Kota exposed his other wrist to Eli so he could bite it and draw blood. Kota never flinched when Eli’s fangs tore into his skin. As his blood began to flow, he put his wrist to Genevieve’s mouth as Eli held it open. More of his blood seeped down her throat, causing her color to improve. Kota saw her incisors elongate, further proof her condition improved with their actions.
Wrapping her arms around Eli’s neck, she writhed against them both. Eli rested his head in the crook of her neck. Kota heard Eli’s strangled voice as he spoke in French to her. The love Genevieve and Eli shared ran deeper than anything Kota had ever seen. When he first became her Guardian, he hated the idea of Eli being her mate. Now, as he watched the way Eli held her so gently, the way he whispered words of love and devotion into her ear, he couldn’t think of a better mate for her.
Kota felt the ache in his limbs ease as Genevieve’s body healed. Looking down, he watched himself move in and out of her glistening pussy. A bead of blood trickled down her hip until the red fluid mixed with her juices coating his thick cock. The mixture caused his dick to tingle, and his body quiver. He increased his motions. His skin slapped against hers and echoed around the room. Eli sped up as well, and put a little more force into his movements. Their hands still emitted the healing light, and the faster they moved, the brighter it got. The glow pulsed with every hard thrust of their hips.
Genevieve moaned, her voice sounding stronger as she began to move in tandem with him and Eli. Kota’s long black hair stuck in thick strands to his face. Genevieve brushed his locks away, gently stroking his cheek as she bit her lip. Her fangs cut the soft, pink skin, and blood rose up to the surface. Eli turned her head toward him and licked the red substance away. She thrust her tongue into Eli’s mouth and kissed him with passion. Eli groaned and grasped the back of her head, holding her in place.
“My love,” Eli whispered when the kiss broke.
Genevieve rolled her hips and then pushed back against Eli and shoved his cock deeper into her ass. Turning her head, she looked at Kota, her eyes finally easing back to the hazel with violet flecks. Kota knew his sole purpose in being with Genevieve in that moment was to simply heal her. He looked at her wound at the same moment it sealed completely closed. One final drop of blood ran down her stomach, making his cock throb. Now that she had been healed, Kota’s mind flooded with thoughts of Talia. Questions about her fate, if she had been in pain. Was she dead?
Genevieve grabbed his face in her hands and forced him to look in to her eyes. “I will find her, Guardian. Fear not, I swear to you I will find her. We will find her.”
Suddenly overcome with some emotion he’d never felt before, Kota pushed into Genevieve as hard as he could once, twice, and then flooded her pussy with his cum. He pulled out and left the room as quickly as he could. He’d fulfilled his responsibility to the Seer. Now he needed space, because it was only then that Kota realized he didn’t just care for Talia. He loved her deeply. When a Shifter finds his true mate the love happens immediately. There is no getting to know them or building a relationship. The bond is unbreakable and instantaneous. Kota felt overwhelming anger. He wanted to be mad at everyone, but the only person he could muster any kind of hatred for was himself. He felt furious for allowing Talia to fight with them, and become so disposable.
That’s what Talia had been in this situation. A cost, a disposable part of the equation. He crumpled forward. His knees hit the ground with a sickening crunch. Grabbing handfuls of leaves and grass, Kota let out a scream. A scream full of all the anger and pain he felt. His shouts bounced off the trees of the forest he found himself in. Mud caked his knees and shins. His naked torso was covered in his sweat, the Seer’s blood, and other bodily fluids. Grasping his hair in his hands, Kota wailed and wailed until his cries of agony turned into howls.
* * * *
Genevieve felt every single shred of pain and anger that Kota did. She wanted to go to him and ease his anguish, but her body and her instincts demanded she stay with Eli. He lifted her up, cleaned himself off with a prepared moist washcloth, and spun her around, easing her down onto his erection. He gripped her shoulders gently, moving his hips against hers in a slow, steady dance of seduction. She loved her vampire more than anything, but the sadness in her heart felt heavy.
“We’ll find Talia, love. I pr
omise you.”
She couldn’t hold her tears back anymore. The combination of Eli’s soft-spoken words and Kota’s distant wail broke her. Dropping her head to his wide shoulder, Genevieve took pleasure in the feeling of Eli’s body pressed tightly against hers. Eli wrapped his strong arms around her waist and lowered her down onto her back. She wrapped her legs around his hips, rolling against him. Genevieve’s body quaked with desire, and she called out her vampire’s name.
Lifting his weight off her, Eli placed his hands on both sides of her head. The wide expanse of his chest was a glorious view as he sped his hips up. She felt his cock throb and twitch as he neared his peak. Pleasure swirled in her belly, and her pussy fluttered around his dick, and then she came hard. Clawing the skin of his back with her nails, she wrapped her long legs around his waist, locking her ankles and lifting up slightly. He slammed into her over and over again, calling her name and cursing at the pleasure they both felt.
Genevieve watched with a smile on her face as Eli threw his head back, his mouth hanging open slightly, and his brow furrowed. He came hard, and she felt every pulse of his cock as he filled her with his seed. She held him tight against her, his dick deep inside of her pussy. As he continued to come, she struck his neck. His blood always tasted so much better when she bit him while his cock seeped.
Drinking deeply and greedily, she felt his unbelievable strength fill her. Her muscles felt stronger, her heart beat harder, and mind felt clearer. Rejuvenated and healed from her injuries, Genevieve knew nothing would stop her from getting Talia back. She knew Kota would always protect her, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have feelings and the ability to love another. Kota needed Talia by his side, but so did Genevieve. She didn’t fully understand why yet, but she knew she had to find the female shifter and bring her home.
With her resolve set and her body beyond strong, Genevieve made the decision to stop at nothing to bring Talia back. She showered with Eli, and then they dressed in clothes made for battle. She strapped on her daggers as did Eli, and together, they started running. Their legs would carry them faster than any car ever would. She wouldn’t dematerialize and risk getting separated from Eli, so they ran. The howls she knew to be Kota rang loud in the heavy night air. They got closer and closer until the wolf fell into step with the Seer and her mate, and the search for Talia began.