Entwined Realms Volume One

by Danielle Monsch

  Surprise lit the old gargoyle’s face before a wide smile split his face. “I would be honored, Meyla.”

  Terak’s eyes were soft on her, adoring, and Larissa basked in the force of that gaze. Her gargoyle, her mate, her love. Still, a little tease wouldn’t hurt. “There is one last thing to conquer.”

  Terak’s visage turned wary, and he glanced around. “What is that?”

  “You need to meet my family.”

  Chapter Forty

  ‡

  He heard her coming toward him, the clack-clack of her shoes heralding her arrival on the stone embankment long before her words reached his ears. “Why are you in that form?”

  Terak turned to face his mate as she approached him, wearing a long coat belted at her waist. “I thought you would prefer me to meet your family while I was in my human guise.”

  Her mouth was tight, little frown lines between her eyebrows. “As you told me, no matter what you look like, you are a gargoyle. I didn’t fall in love with a human, I don’t want a human with me as I introduce the male I love to my family. I want the Clan Leader of the Gargoyles, my mate, by my side tonight.”

  His heart became more hers at those words, if that were even possible. Still, he shook his head. “They will only see me as a monster and try to take you away. I do not wish to fight the family of my mate, but I will not let them keep you from me.”

  “Terak,” she sighed, coming over to take his face between her hands. “That won’t happen. They already know everything and know what to expect when they meet you.”

  “Are you saying your Clan is happy with your mate?”

  “I’m saying they don’t have a choice in the matter.”

  He brought up one hand to cover hers as it lay against his face, warm and soft. “Why would you believe that? Your father is anything but weak-willed. He will not accept so easily any mating of yours, but especially to one who is connected to the New Realms.”

  “My dad has to accept it, because I told him I love you the same way he loved my mother, and I asked him if anything in this world would have kept him from her side. When he admitted nothing would, I asked him what lengths he thought I would go or what I would give up to stay with you. I can’t say he’s completely happy, I won’t lie about that. But you left the Clan to be with me. Do you think you mated with someone who does not have the same level of commitment as you do?”

  “Never, little human. You awe me with all you have given up already to be at my side.”

  “Then prove your faith in me, and turn into your true form.” With a naughty smile, she started to remove the long coat. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

  Her reveal was a punch to his chest, stealing his breath away as he took her in. Her dress emphasized the soft swell of her breasts, the skirt was very tight and very short, and on her feet were shoes with spikes that made the lines of her legs into works of art.

  He reached out to touch her, but she backed away and waggled a finger at him. “Tsk tsk, I don’t see your gargoyle form yet.”

  Putting aside his own fears, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and changed into his true form.

  When he opened his eyes again, he saw her gaze moving over his body, taking in every inch. “Now this is what I want.”

  “Then give me my reward, mate.”

  She smiled then, walking toward him with her hips swaying, the sight of it making his body hard. Once she was before him again she lifted herself onto her toes and took his bottom lip between her teeth, giving a soft bite she knew would drive him insane. “Out of the two of us, I’m the one who should be worried.”

  “Oh?” he said, enjoying the feel of her.

  She licked the spot she had just bitten. “After all, I’m only a puny, insubstantial human. I can’t defend myself.”

  He moved his mouth to graze over hers. “A gargoyle who is not strong enough to defend his mate does not deserve to live.”

  She lowered her mouth to nuzzle under his chin. “I have no claws.”

  “I disagree. I feel your claws when you rake them down my back,” and he groaned as she proceed to show him how good her claws felt as they traveled his front.

  She nipped the underside of his jaw. “I can’t fly.”

  His hands cupped her face, locking their gazes. “I will always carry you.”

  That beautiful smile that defined his world lit her face. “Show me.”

  He was undone. He lifted her into his arms and jumped into the air before them, taking flight.

  He thought he loved flying before, but holding Larissa in his arms remade the experience. She kissed his earlobe, worrying the flesh between her teeth before she bit down. He struggled to keep his eyes open against the sensual assault, but when she licked the shell of his ear he shuddered, losing momentum and dropping a few feet.

  She giggled. “Am I having an effect on the mighty Clan Leader,” she teased, blowing into his ear now.

  “Larissa,” he growled, but she paid him no mind. Putting her mouth to his ear, she whispered, “Wrap my legs around your waist.”

  He groaned. “What are you doing to me?”

  “Me? I’m enjoying the flight. You concentrate on keeping us in the air, I’ll take care of the rest.”

  She slid her leg down his torso. He should stop her, yet somehow, he found himself settling her as she wished.

  Once she was secure, her hand reached down between her legs to the fastening of his pants. “Larissa,” he tried again, but even as he spoke her name her hand curled around his aching shaft, freeing him from the fabric. “Gods, I love the feel of you,” she breathed, stroking as far down as she could. “I want you all the time. I think of you inside me all the time.” She wiggled down his body, bringing them into intimate contact.

  It took all his willpower to stay aloft. He had no reserves for speech, so he could not tell her to stop. Otherwise he would…and then she stroked him against the wet warmth of her pussy, laid bare to him.

  “Where…are your undergarments?” Sweat ran down his spine, pillowing in the hollow of his back as his hips instinctively flexed toward her.

  “Oops, guess I forgot something.” Nothing in her voice suggested she was sorry for this.

  She would pay. She would pay for doing this to him, for robbing him of all sanity right as he was going to meet her Clan. As soon as he could think again, she would pay.

  Larissa gave him a quick, hard kiss, her eyes hazy with lust. “I wish I could taste this right now, but I’ve learned adaptability is key to survival. I’ll get back to that later.” Using her legs, she worked herself on him, but without leverage there was little friction, only the delicious feel of her wetness over his tip. Her nails dug into his back right above where his wings attached while the pointy spikes of her heels speared into his thighs in the most pleasurable pain he had ever known.

  “Terak,” she cried. She was pink and tousled, her pouty lips parted in frustration that she was not able to take him deeper and bring them both the pleasure they craved.

  Below them was a deserted park. He needed to end this or he would lose his sanity.

  He landed with a hard thud, his usual grace absent as he stumbled. Wasting no time he fell to his knees, placing her with gentle care on the ground on her back before he fell above her, his wings flaring out behind them.

  Larissa’s breaths were jagged as she watched him. He plunged into her, the tightening of her body against the sudden invasion bringing him to near climax.

  No, not without her. He fought against every nerve in his body begging him to plunge again, to race toward climax. Instead he stroked inside her with small, even movements, movements that made her breath labored and her back arch.

  “Yes, yes, yes,” she chanted, her hips squirming against his, pushing him harder inside her. Using her heels, she pulled him in. “Deeper, Terak. Get as deep as you can in me and make me come.”

  Her words broke any restraint and now he only knew her, to pound inside her and pour himself in
to his mate, to mark her so deeply no one who beheld her would ever doubt to whom she belonged, and her cry of satisfaction while her body clenched around him signaled her acceptance of that claim.

  His head fell back as he came inside her, growling and cursing at one of the strongest orgasms of his life came over him.

  Long moments later when their breathing normalized, she looked up at him. Her eyes were dreamy. She lifted her hands, delicate human fingers stroking over brow bone and pointed ears, pulling strands of his much thicker hair. “Why would I want to be with anyone but you?”

  He leaned down, kissing her mouth, letting her sureness overcome his doubts. “We are supposed to meet with your father soon. I doubt he will be happy if I bring you to him in this condition.”

  “We’ll stop at my apartment to get cleaned up.” She smiled, a light teasing cast to her mouth. “Don’t be overworried about making a bad impression. No matter what you do, Dad’s going to hate you on sight.”

  Terak reared back. “I thought you said that he would accept me.”

  “Oh yes, he’s going to accept you. He has no choice on that. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to like you. You are taking away his baby girl, after all.”

  “Is it always like this with humans?”

  “Welcome to the family.”

  Chapter Forty-One

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  Zemar waited outside, silent and still, a living statue hidden in the ragged shadows cast by the building.

  The acolyte arrived, oblivious to his presence. The boy’s focus was on the pouch he carried. He stroked the pouch with a hand that trembled with the slightest touch, the way others would caress a lover. The boy was laughable in his overt desire for power, a power he could no more wield than a toddler rule a nation.

  Would the boy be foolish enough to run with the dagger? It was a powerful temptation, promising untold power to one who could master it.

  No, no running for this one. The sheen of sweat coating his face even on this cold autumn night, the wide eyes and shallow breaths answered the question as the boy approached the door. He coveted, but he would obey.

  The boy was right to let his fear triumph over any ambitions he might harbor. The dagger would only destroy him.

  Zemar melted from the shadows to enjoy the panic of the boy before he registered who stood before him. The boy bowed, holding forth the weapon for Zemar to take. “Master,” was all he said.

  Zemar spoke no words to him. The blade now in his hands, he went into the building, taking the elevator to the penthouse.

  The apartment was an expansive space, leather and chrome shaping the interior. The far wall was made of glass, and from this dizzying height the effect was the city laid bare, showing its soft underbelly in submission.

  A couch was situated in front of the window and Zemar approached it. Reign sat in the middle, his arms draped over the back of the couch, the drained body of a young woman on the ground, her red hair a blanket over his feet.

  Reign did not bother to take the dagger, merely continued his observation of the city. “Fallon?”

  “She is still alive, my Lord.”

  Reign’s rich laugh filled the air. “As if she were ever in any danger from the fools that were present.” His eyes darkened to black-red. He murmured, “The only one who will take Fallon is me.”

  Zemar watched his Master stroke his hand over his lips while his gaze stayed on the window. With a negligent movement, Reign reached out his hand. Zemar obeyed, handing the dagger over.

  Reign studied the blade, twisting it in his hand to go over every inch with his gaze. “How many did she kill?”

  “Dozens, my Lord, until her sword was dull with the blood of her enemies.”

  Reign stroked the edge of the dagger with his forefinger until a drop of blood was drawn. The blood absorbed into the blade. “Only that? I will see her bathed in blood before me.”

  *

  “And what of the Oracle’s prophecy?”

  Fallon snorted. “The usual crap she pulls. Of course Larissa was important to the Gargoyle Clan, she’s going to be the wife of the Clan Leader and make future heirs to the throne. Is it me, or is using untold powers to play matchmaker a little beneath her?”

  “The young enjoy getting into mischief. She will grow out of it.”

  “That’s an interesting statement. Tell me, how old is she, and how much younger is she than you?”

  “Nice try. Back to the gargoyle. Do you truly believe you can trust him?”

  Fallon was resting her head on the back of the chair, her eyes closed in tiredness. “I believe we can. Strange to think of gargoyles as allies, but he truly does love her, and the other side wants her dead. As long as that’s the case, he’ll fight like hell for us.”

  “Any male fights like hell for his mate.”

  “Oh? And what would you know about that?”

  “Fallon, who are you talking to?”

  Aislynn’s voice cut through the air, startling Fallon so she jerked upright in her seat. “Ais, I didn’t hear you come in.” Fallon rose, bending her neck to the side in a deep stretch. “Talking to myself, as usual. Just trying to come down from the last few weeks. What do you need?”

  Aislynn shifted, motioning behind her with her thumb. “Wulver has called us. No rest for the wicked and all that.”

  “What’s up?”

  “Tec is giving us a complete list of missing items, with Laire providing commentary on how much chaos and destruction each can cause. We need to strategize about Merc and the spellbook, and it seems as though the Master of Monsters will be returning.”

  “Great, I can’t wait to see Wulver start humping the furniture again. Something to look forward to. Anything else?”

  Aislynn pretended to think for a moment, pressing her forefinger against her chin. “Don’t expect to use your vacation benefits anytime soon?”

  “Figures.” Fallon made an after you gesture with her hand, and the two females left the room.

  “What do I know of mates? Wouldn’t you like to know…”

  The End

  Stone Embrace

  Chapter One

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  Now was the answer. The question? If there was one time you wished you were an unashamed alcoholic, when would you choose? Forget the knife, the tension here could hide a pack of werewolves amidst its layers.

  They were at the dinner table, Terak at one end and her father at the other, with her and Michael on either side of Terak and the other three brothers in the middle. Michael didn’t look happy, but unlike the rest of the Miller clan, he had no obvious issues with Terak being there.

  Terak was in his human form. After an aborted first attempt at meeting her family – where Jack Miller made damn sure to let her know she wasn’t off the hook for bringing over her mate and in the same breath made damn sure she knew he wasn’t happy about it – Terak refused with the full-force of that gargoyle stubbornness to meet her family in anything but his shifted state, saying he would give her family time to know him. The problem with that – THE problem? Try problem number seven-hundred and twenty-three – was illuminated the moment Jack Miller’s eyes took in the tall human next to her. Confusion ruled her father’s face for a long moment when he saw the man beside her, but the detective’s mind pieced together recalled information at lightning pace, and when Jack got it – that everything she told him was true, gargoyles could shift into humans, and so many things Jack had believed since the Great Collision had been a lie – suppressed and impotent fury wrote itself deep into the lines of a face that never once showed those emotions in this home.

  Larissa’s tongue was numb from all the times she had bitten it tonight, and she reached for a glass of water more to feel the cool liquid slide over the abused flesh than because of thirst. Under the table she stroked Terak’s hand, the fist the only outward sign of the gargoyle’s own distress.

  In their bedroom earlier, it had been he who insisted they come today. “They will never accept me i
f they don’t come to know me, Meyja. You expect too much, too soon.”

  She sat on the bed with her back against the headboard and legs stretched before her. Her gargoyle was putting a shirt over his now-human chest, the sight as impressive as always, and an irrational wave of anger overlaid her already rational anger at her father. Because her gargoyle was trying to cater to her father and gain favor, she was going to be denied the sight of that chest all evening. Stupid parental figure. “I expect my father to respect the male I have chosen to join my life with. I expect him to not act like a jackass.”

  Fully clothed, Terak came to sit beside her legs and took her hand in his clawless one. “He will. That he did not betray my secret – betray my Clan – to the human authorities tells me he will. But you are asking him to go against the core of his beliefs in taking me as a mate. It is unfair to ask him to make that transition in an instant without giving him time and space to adjust and to grieve.”

  “Grieve?”

  “Yes, grieve,” Terak affirmed. “Grief over what he feels is a betrayal of his oath as the leader of the police. And this also lays bare once again his grief over the loss of your mother.”

  Terak’s now grey eyes were direct on her, no hint of shading to tell her he was minimizing his own concerns to make her feel better. Her chest hurt, unable to contain the swell of adoration this male evoked in her, the pure gratitude that she had been blessed enough to have him come into her life. She stroked down the sharp plane of his cheekbone. “There’s a very small, vindictive part of me that wants to tell him he can’t use her as an excuse for his actions forever. But I never will, because the instant after that impulse occurs, I imagine my life if something were to happen to you, and I know for him it’s not an excuse. And afterwards, I want to hug him in apology, because I’m in awe he survived as well as he has.”

  Strong arms pulled her against a hard chest, and thank gods in this form that smell of newly-cracked stone and undefinable male remained, the smell that was only and forever Terak. She held tight, dragging his warmth and strength into her, both for tonight and for banishing that momentary terror the thought of losing him always evoked.