by Stacy Reid
Ours, the darkness whispered against his mind.
But he did not answer. The demon snarled a promise of rage and madness in the sound. It wanted him to claim her…and everything in Drac wanted to, but the depth of emotions she roused were too much. What if she got harmed and he lost control?
Blood …take her blood.
He tried to assess the need that bled from his darkness to him for her blood. It was unusual. The desire was not there to feed on negative emotions. The triumph he had felt when she had licked and sucked his blood was savage and overwhelming. He kissed her shoulders and a wry smile twisted his lips. Never had he thought it would be possible for him to be so enthralled by another.
He could not relinquish her…nor could he claim her.
He snapped his teeth as the dual need warred inside. Drac gently brushed his mouth against hers as thoughts of letting her go against keeping her swirled through his mind.
***
Saieke sighed. Her limbs refused to move as she lay sprawled on top of Drac in wanton exhaustion. She did not know how long had passed but she could only guess that it was morning.
There was an unfamiliar, sweet coppery taste on her tongue. Blood. The blissful afterglow vanished. Kings’ teeth. She had irrevocably loss all sense of herself. Then she remembered what had led her to…this. She was no longer a viable candidate to marry into a royal line. Triumph filled her, then unease. A growl echoed in her mind, pushing away all sense of contentment. “What was that?”
“Why are you not at ease?”
Saieke pushed herself up on her elbows. “I heard a snarl inside my head, Drac.”
You are ours to protect.
She recoiled from him, tumbling from the bed with the covers twisting at her ankles. “I did not imagine that,” she yelped. “You spoke in my mind.”
Yes
“That’s it? Yes?” She cried as insidious pressure probed at her mind. Her breath caught in her throat. Her heart pounded and fear clouded her mind.
“Why do you fear?”
“I can see you,” she breathed in sheer fright. Her eyes remained glued to him, she saw as he shifted from the bed.
See me how?
Saieke whimpered. “You spoke in my mind again.”
Her vision clouded as if she was looking through a mirror, and she was afraid to look anywhere but at him.
Ours
A declaration of ownership and possession, which had her heart jack hammering and pervasive fear, cramped her stomach. “Drac, please, I…I—”
“You can see and hear me?”
Saieke nodded slowly as she lifted her hands and caressed the black mark on his cheek. She could see him in the dark. “What is happening, Drac?”
“I am unsure.”
Ours
She let out a strangled laugh at the contradictions. “I must have lost more blood that I thought,” she said, slightly hysterical. She held the coverlet to her body in a death grip, and tried to move away from the hand that held her so tightly.
“Be still!” his voice lashed as he observed her with an inscrutable expression.
Saieke stilled and glared at him. Darkness swept across her mind.
Let me in
She swallowed audibly. He displayed no expression, but she could feel the tension and the confusion that held him rigid.
How do I let you in? She tentatively whispered.
Saieke quailed as dark triumph invaded her mind. Rage and power flooded her mind in torrents as she felt the chakra of his beast on a deeper connection. “Drac what is happening?” she groaned, sweat beading her skin at the power and malevolence.
Let me in, a deadly hiss that scraped at the walls of her mind.
“No!” a strong shout from her.
Drac twisted, tumbling her to the bed. He loomed over her, dark and menacing. He slashed his lips on hers kissing her mouth dominantly. She tried to twist her head away but the snarl that echoed from him froze her limbs. Her powers hummed beneath her skin, and she sent it deep, calling for the water beneath his chambers. Wind howled in the room, slamming the windows with enough force to crack them.
Saieke, an aching growl filled with longing slid and confusion into her mind. Let me in. It was the confusion that made her halt her instinctive attack. She parted her lips and tentatively twined her tongue with his.
Mine, this time only Drac’s voice probed at her mind—entreating and commanding at the same time.
Confusion mingled with desire and Saieke reached out to him hesitantly with her mind.
Yours? She asked unsure if he would hear her.
She absorbed the stillness that gripped him. She felt it through his body and the mental link they had somehow formed. She whimpered as darkness like oil slowly pervaded her mind.
Breathe.
Saieke coiled her muscles to struggle and became still herself.
Breathe. It came again. A soft command in her mind—tender, intimate.
She felt uncertainty, and a desire to be gentle with her amongst the treachery and cruelty.
We would never hurt you, the distorted voice was from beast and man.
The tenderness beguiled her like nothing else could. Saieke was not sure what they wanted from her exactly and how she would let them in. She relaxed her limbs, her mind, and tried to understand why the beast was trying to reach out to her. She felt a stretch in her mind as her vision tunneled inward to encounter blackness.
She groaned and closed her eyes as an abyss dominated her consciousness. Raw noises of disbelief echoed in the chamber from Saieke as glowing eyes snapped open in her mind. The malevolence from the beast was overwhelming. Black chakra coiled around a massive winged monster. Drac was draped in its chakra and image, and they both stared at her through the psychic connection.
Ours. Satisfaction blazed from them to her mind until they melded as one feeling, and she could not separate their essence anymore.
“How is this possible?”
Our blood …Mate
“Mate!?” She wrenched her mind out of the abyss and opened her eyes to look directly into Drac’s.
“‘Mate?’ What are you suggesting?”
He flew away from her, and panic rose because her vision was becoming sharper.
Saieke leapt from the bed and walked around the room in a daze. She paused, she could actually see clearer than what she was used to before. She saw the fine layer of dust on the stone floor and she swore she could hear footsteps some distance away from the chambers. She could see the bronze glow of her skin clearly. Stained glass encased a full wall. It was stained with a golden outline of massive wings and tails, and what appeared to be white light.
It was breathtaking. She used her wind and flung the massive windows open and stepped out. The courtyard spread before her like a wild jungle. Steam seemed to rise from its depth, and trees and flowers she had never before seen were laid out wildly and exotically before her. She heard great cries, roars and snarls echoing for miles and miles.
Her hearing was also enhanced.
An animal prowled with deadly grace across the yard and leapt into one of the trees and crouched. It was massive. More than five feet tall on its feet. Razor sharp claws extended from its eight feet and its fangs were visible. It was sleek and powerful and Saieke cringed at the thought that they roamed the dark forest.
“Your keep is teeming with more wildlife than the Ricarkri castle.”
“My keep borders Moiré—the dark forest and jungles. Animals that are only found there roam freely in the Northern Keep.”
She felt him moved closer.
“Look at me. I can feel the fear beating in your heart.”
She turned. The sleekness of his body never failed to take her breath away “I cannot be your mate.”
The shadows claimed her, and then they were back
in the cave. The cave was deep and cavernous with a gentle waterfall that trickled from the ceiling down rocks into the mineral heated pool which gathered below. There were tiny bubbles and the surface that glistened with the minerals in it. It was more than seven feet in width and depth. The rocks had gold buried deep inside of them that shone bright with the light. She could even see the simmer of gold under the surface of the water. There were several other pockets of small water pools scattered about with rock formed around them for sitting purposes. There were platters of food on a rustic table.
“Why has food been left?”
“My sister Tehdra is aware of my arrival.”
“Oh,” Saieke said softly.
He placed her gently on her feet, clasping her waist from behind. “You are my mate, and it is not something I can undo.”
He patiently waited while she gathered her emotions and thoughts. “What does being your mate mean and why am I your mate?”
“I do not fully understand how is it that you are my mate, as you are not a Darkan and have no beast to connect with mine. We have connected with you psychically and that can only be done with mates.”
She drifted away from him and sank into the heat of the water. She needed its comfort as she prayed that him claiming her as his mate did not mean what she thought it meant.
“It seems as if the connection was formed through the swapping of our blood.”
“You knew this would happen?”
“I did not.” A cold and remote statement. “No Darkan has ever mated with anyone outside of our kind before.”
“Are you sure I am your mate?” She queried tentatively, hoping he might be wrong.
“Your taste and scent calls to me and my beast. And more importantly, my beast wants to protect you above all. It has only ever wanted to consume and destroy.”
She absorbed that silently. “I’m frightened, Drac.”
“It is never my intent to let you fear.”
“What does it mean for me that you say I am your mate?”
Ours slid across her mind like a gentle breeze.
“You are the Princess of Boreas.”
Ours
“Am I changing into a Darkan?”
He lifted his brows. “That is impossible. You are born a Darkan, one cannot be created.”
“How is it that you know? I am seeing in the dark with perfect vision and I can smell your scent. Its driving me crazy and all I can think is that I want you inside me again and drinking my blood…which should be the furthest thing from my mind as I feel I can barely move from all that we did earlier,” she said, flushing.
She did not even startle when he appeared before her.
“I have never heard of anyone in Amagarie consuming the blood of my kind. It was a compulsion that rode me hard for you to taste me. It came from my beast and consumed me.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Legend on Earth claims that humans can be turned into vampyres when bitten by Darkans,” she retorted.
Amusement glowed in his eyes. “Our legends are far removed from what actual Darkans are.”
“Yes, but many truths lie in legends.” She glared at him. “What if that aspect is true? You have only ever taken my blood and you said never before in your history has any Darkan mated outside of their selves.”
“Why are you afraid?”
Saieke bit her lips hard. “I can feel your possessiveness. I intend to return to my kingdom and I am afraid that you will say that I cannot leave as you have claimed me,” she whispered.
“You are my mate, but I have not claimed you.”
Oh! Because she was weak. The knowledge hurt when it should not have. “Because you believe me to be fragile,” she said hoarsely.
He cocked his head and a cruel smile edged his lips. “That is but one aspect. You are the progeny of the kingdom of wind and mountains. I cannot simply keep you.”
He did not seem ruffled at the thought she would go back to her nation. “Are you saying it does not matter if I leave?”
“Yes”
“So I am not your mate?” she snapped, almost confused with herself.
She was not even sure why she was asking. After all, the fear that he would refuse her departure had been dispelled, so nothing else should concern her.
“You are mine and only mine. There will never be another for me. Because of our beasts we can mate only once. You fascinate me. Your laughter, your smiles, your generosity, your impulsiveness, your body, your scent and your taste; you sway me like nothing else could.”
Saieke’s breath hitched at the pain of loss that scythed through his chakra. The burning need to soothe him almost crippled her. She understood why he would relinquish her. If there was even a chance loving her could mean the loss of his self like his brother, he would deny her.
“Would you have claimed me if I was a Darkan?” She could not understand the need to know, but it pressed in on her.
“If you were a Darkan who accepted her demon…yes.”
She hated the pain twisting through her veins. “I see.”
“I can feel your pain and I do not understand it.”
She flicked her hand and the water rose in a wave that pushed her swiftly toward him. It molded her to him and the heat from him was sharp and sublime. “I only for a moment imagined what it would be like…if I was yours and you were mine.”
Haunting shadows shifted in his eyes. She twined her hands around his neck and kissed him. Their tongues stroked and soothed, and she did not hesitate when she felt the insidious scrape across her mind. She opened completely to his probe and absorbed the full essence of man and beast. The fascination, gentleness and uncertainty balanced the other brutal emotions that swamped her mind. She shifted through them and absorbed them into her essence. She gently pulled her lips from his. “The way you fascinate me makes me apprehensive. I seem to ache for you constantly.”
The sensual smile that slashed his mouth had her heart leaping in excitement.
“You smile…” she whispered as she traced the curve of his lips. “I am not sure I will ever get used to such an intrusion against my mind. Is it that you are able to read my inner most thoughts?”
“You are my only mate, I am untutored as well.”
Saieke laughed huskily. “Did you make a jest, Drac?”
“No, I only speak in absolutes. You will be my only mate.”
Her heart lurched.
“Why do you fear at the mere mention of mate? I will not hold you to a claiming.”
How could he be so accepting of such a position? From what he said there would be no other for him. He was willing to live without love or companionship until his death? Even though she had sworn never to be weak to the idea of love, she always knew she would marry and find happiness with her king. Never would she consign herself to a lifetime of loneness, without even knowing the joy of having a family for herself. “You speak with such convictions of never claiming me.” After a hesitant breath she continued, “I must return to Boreas to fulfill the honor bargain and to nullify the blood-oath to Nuria. I am not sure I will ever be able to return to the Darkage.”
Hooded eyes seemed to devour her face as he took in every nuance of her expressions.
“I can feel the fear that is in your heart. It is repulsive to me.”
“It is not intentional. I do not fear that you will bring harm. I fear the loss of myself. I ache to be with you, yet I hardly know you. I crave you even knowing my kingdom would never accept you as my royal consort.”
Saieke tried not to recoil from the insidious brush against her mind. “I want to know you…but I cannot.”
“Open your mind to me and I will show you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Lei allow us to connect as one. I can share my memories. They will come to you as how I experienced them.”
>
“I thought I was your only mate?” she queried archly.
He chuckled. “I only know in theory.”
“Show me,” she demanded.
Let me in
Her body softened into his. She flinched instinctively against the stronger push into her mind, and then the abyss opened. Darkness seeped in and she whimpered. The hatred and rage, the cruelty, and the unadulterated blood-thirstiness shook her. Unwittingly she reached out to him through the connection.
Drac
“Never at you,” he whispered. “These are the emotions my essence thirsts and lives for. It is a part of me, never to be separated.”
Its malevolence is enough to destroy any soul.
After a tense pause he answered, we are one.
Saieke forced her limbs to relax as the oppressive feelings tried to dominate her mind. How did he bear it? She tried to shift through the mire of darkness to see truth.
Harm to you is not something we would ever condone.
Gentleness reached out to her seeking to soothe. The strangeness of it in the midst of such rage and cruelty confused her. It was more than gentleness…stamped with possessiveness and love?
“What are you showing me?” she whispered.
“I want you not to fear the beast inside of me.”
“Why do you not suppress this darkness as Lachlan does?”
When you do not have power those precious to you can be snatched from your arms.
A collage of thoughts, memories, their impressions clear and precise, tunneled through her mind like the rushing waters of a river. What accompanied the images were feelings. The depth of loyalty he felt to King Rajliegh—Gidon’s father—as Drac had bonded himself to his cadre. His ruthless resolve as he lowered his psychic shield to learn darkness and hone it as a weapon to become stronger—stronger to fight, to protect his king’s throne, his family and his kingdom, as they fought the subjugation of the dark era they lived in. The pain and terror at watching his brother succumb to evil. His feelings, as darkness and power beckoned and seduced, and his triumph at bonding with the beast inside. Images of her fighting the Mevians; of her fleeing to his world; of him drinking her blood; of being inside of her body, coalesced and sank into Saieke. The primal attraction, the lust, the desire, the need to protect and love her, bled from him into her.