Surprised, she looked at him, but knew the gentle moment was gone.
As if in pain, his eyes clenched shut and he pulled his hands away from her. His purr stopped. Except for breathing and the forward movement of his body, he lay unmoving.
Sarah’s chest felt like he ripped her in half. His wretched clan honor was about to drive her insane. One minute he wanted her, the next he treated her like a trash-loving skrivett, the lowest of all Sídhí rodents.
Sarah clenched her teeth and rolled to the side, splashing into the cool synth crystal. She felt the power flowing past her. She was sick to death of Nick rejecting her every time she turned around and tired of running for their lives. Recklessly, she reached for the energy and touched nothing.
She growled in frustration and pushed every fiber within her, searching for a way around the blockage.
“What happened?” Nick asked.
Angry he refused her and angry over the mite poison disrupting her ability to touch synth crystal, Sarah glared at him. “Mites attacked us.”
She tried sitting up, but her hand slipped and she smacked into him.
Nick grunted as her body hit him. “That much I figured out. Where are the others? And where the blue blazes are we?”
“Oh, crap!” Brianna shouted. Her choice of curse words grew more colorful before she finished. “Do you hear that?”
Nick twisted his head, trying to look in front of them, toward the girl.
Sarah ignored his movements. Hearing a loud roar, she grew still and all the blood drained from her face.
Nick’s growl grew louder. “What’s that roar?”
If Sarah had not been right beside him, she would have never heard him. As it was, she didn’t have time to explain. “Waterfall,” she said grimly.
Brianna screamed shrilly as she shot out of the tunnel.
Seconds later, Nick and Sarah followed her. The massive chasm glowed with power.
Nick grabbed for Sarah, but her lighter body shot farther out into the open air of the vast area.
Sarah twisted her head around, seeking a possible solution. She started falling.
Of all the rotten, stinking luck, she fumed. She mentally screamed for Mac, but he still didn’t answer her.
She looked down, dreading what she would see. The massive river was made entirely of whitish-clear liquid, synth crystal, Dragon Valley’s primary crystal spring.
A spikey white ceiling arched high above their heads. Several miles separated the un-scalable walls of crystal. Dozens of caves gaped along the jagged walls, dotting the entire length with massive waterfalls. Pure liquid energy plunged into the deep chasm, creating a massive ocean of untapped power.
She stubbornly reached for the ability to control the synth crystal surrounding her, but the barrier remained firmly in place.
She watched Nick glance toward her. He angled his body. Like a skydiver, using the wind of their fall, he maneuvered closer to her. A second later, they plunged into the underground synth spring. The liquid surrounded her, tingling across her skin.
Surging upward, she broke the surface and gasped for breath.
Nick, right beside her, did the same.
His hand slid around her arm, urging her in the opposite direction. “Can you see it?” he shouted over the roar of the falls, nodding his head to something behind her.
She turned and saw Brianna swimming toward a ledge.
They struggled against the churning water, but managed to reach the milk colored ledge. The smooth surface rose two feet above her head. She grabbed the curve of the ledge, but her hands slipped off.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nick go under.
Heart racing, she reached for him and missed.
His hands wrapped around her waist and he surged upward, shoving her higher toward the ledge.
She grabbed the slick ledge and pulled herself onto the smooth surface.
Turning, she scrambled on hands and knees. Leaning over the side, she stretched her hand toward Nick.
Nick scowled at her. “Help Brianna up first,” he ordered.
Sarah curled her lips into a snarl. “No.” Leaving her hand held out toward him, she stubbornly held his eyes.
He softly called her stubborn and reached for her hand.
She closed her hand around his and pulled. Immediately, she began sliding over the slick surface toward the edge. She tried to stop her forward momentum, but his weight was too much. Her fingers began slipping.
Without warning, he released his hold on her and she sprawled backward.
“Now, help Brianna,” Nick said, glaring holes through her.
Sarah snarled, but finally moved a few feet away toward Brianna. The girl's slender hands appeared on the edge as the girl tried climbing the slick wall.
Sarah grasped her wrist and pulled. They both slipped, but she succeeded in dragging the girl up.
Brianna knelt on the ledge for a few moments, coughing up what liquid she swallowed. She rasped her thanks.
Together, they reached for Nick and pulled. Every time they managed to get him partway up, he began slipping backward.
Finally, he hooked an arm over the edge and stopped sliding backward.
They paused, catching their breath.
Knowing they were at a standstill, Sarah reached over his back and slid her hand between his denim-covered thighs. “Hang on,” Sarah said in a growl.
She felt him shudder, growing hard.
“Sarah,” he said, groaning her name.
She curled her hand to the side of his private area. Clenching his inner thigh, she pulled as hard as she could. Suddenly, he slipped. She grabbed for anything to hold onto and pulled him toward her.
“Sarah!” Nick bellowed in a deep-throated voice, sliding over the rim of the ledge and into her lap.
___________
Nick ground his teeth together as another shaft of desire slammed through him. Hard as a rock, he groaned and opened his eyes to paradise.
His nose lay between Sarah’s pert breasts. He shuddered and slammed his eyes shut. That increased his other senses. He inhaled. Her sinfully addictive scent, a heady mixture of heather and hyacinth, uniquely Sarah, swirled through him. Her scent intensified, entwining around the heady smell of an afternoon thunderstorm, fresh and explosive as the wind whipped through the trees.
Her heart raced as she ever so slowly released him.
Groaning with pleasure and agony, he pushed away from the one woman he wanted more than his own life, a woman that he could never claim as his very own lifeMate.
“Nick,” she said in that soft voice that went straight to his heart every darn time.
“Not now,” he growled, clenching his teeth so hard he feared they would crack. He jerked his body farther away from hers, relishing in the pain it caused him. That is, until he looked at her face.
Her flushed face lost all color and her eyes filled with moisture. His soul cringed as the pain of his rejection flitted across her face. She blinked rapidly, destroying the trace of weakness.
Her trembling lip lifted in a snarl. Jumping up, she stalked away, following the narrow ledge as the path ran along the base of the crystal cliff.
He released a pent-up hiss.
Even furious, Sarah was the most exquisite female he had ever laid eyes on.
Hours later, Sarah’s long legged stride slowed to a halt. Head tilted upward, she looked at the glowing script etched around the entrance of a wide tunnel. The odd opening was the only break in the massive cliff wall.
Nick prayed the solitary tunnel led to the surface. If it didn't, they were stuck in the crystal chasm.
“You think it goes to the surface?” Brianna asked worriedly, echoing his thoughts.
Sarah remained silent, ignoring him and Brianna as she walked into the tunnel.
“Hope so,” Nick said, following Sarah down the tunnel.
The thirty-foot cylinder of synth crystal slowly narrowed to twenty feet then ten feet. Gaping holes appeared
along the wall. He had no way of knowing, but he had a feeling that if they had aimed for the right-hand tunnel they would have ended up here instead of the synth spring.
The curved walls became straight. Doorways with no exits appeared every few feet on either side of the corridor. The walls, the doors, everything was made of synth crystal.
Sarah reached forward to touch the hard inner surface of a doorway.
His gut clenched and fear ripped through him.
He grabbed for her hand. Unsurprisingly, he missed as her hand gracefully slipped through his grasp. “Touching old things of power is never a smart move,” he said in a growl.
Her eyes, cold as ice glanced at him, dismissing him without another thought.
The brush-off hurt a heck of a lot more than her cold attitude would have three weeks earlier. Meeting only through dreams, he could stand firm against wanting her as his mate. She had been nothing but an evil exile. That firm stance stopped the moment he laid eyes on her for the first time.
The memory was the most vivid one of his entire life. Standing on the cabin deck, her glorious moonbeam colored hair whipped around her slender hips and captured his very soul. He would take her beloved image with him to his grave. His big body trembled as reality hit him in the heart.
He loved her.
At the beginning of camp, he had tried killing the emotion by being hateful to her, but every harsh word he spoke to her cut him until he bled from the pain he knew he caused her.
A slight movement pulled his attention to the very painful present.
Sarah turned, staring at him with an emotionless mask covering her face. She slowly and firmly placed the palm of her hand in the middle of a doorway. A single, sarcastic eyebrow arched upward annoying the hell out of him.
He clenched his fist against his thigh. It was the only thing that kept him from reaching for her once more. Blast her. Even though he’d never uttered the words, she had to know he loved her. That he would die for her. She also knew why he refused to bond with her.
He could easily overlook her blood only diet. Every vampire craved blood, but she wasn’t just a blood drinking exile.
He could’ve even learned to accept her family, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t see past her evil reputation, a rep built on the torture and assassination of innocents. A bloody reputation she arrogantly admitted to.
He swallowed a curse and knew he would even overlook her horrid past if not for his brother. He had a sinking feeling that his first contact with Sarah had not been her first contact with his family.
He watched Brianna walk farther down the hallway, glancing at each doorway.
“We need to talk,” Nick said quietly, motioning in the direction they had come.
She shook her head. “No need, you’ve made your position quite clear. You don’t want me – the female who was supposed to be your mate – to be physically hurt, but you also hate me with a passion. My very touch disgusts you.”
“Sarah,” he growled.
“You needn’t worry about my continued unwelcome advances. I finally understand how much you hate me,” she said glaring at him. “Once we get out of here, I’m finding one of the Dyrst’Lye dragons. That should put an end to everything.”
Nick snapped his teeth together. He hated it when people threatened things that went totally over his head. “And who are the Dyrst’Lye?”
“Very funny. You’ve become more of a comedian than Mitch.” She turned her back to him, sliding her hands down the doorframe. “Everyone knows the Dyrst’Lye can destroy the lifeBud before the organ fully blooms, but not after the mate bond is sealed.”
“What?” Nick snarled in horror. Fear surged through him at the thought of forever losing her. If a person had their lifeBud destroyed, they could not mentally bond with their mate. He grabbed for her, but his hand grasped empty air.
“Do. Not. Touch. Me.” Sarah glared at him, a look filled with lethal promises. The deadly expression was one he had never received from her.
“I never said I hated you,” he said carefully, once again curling his hands into fists.
She snorted. “As if you had to tell me how much I disgusted you when your actions spoke of your hatred. No,” she held up an imperious hand, “I’m sick to death of you not trusting me.”
“And what have you said to convince me?” he demanded. He stepped into her private space, glaring into her ice-cold eyes. “Nothing, not one thing have you said to make me trust you. But even after all of that, I’d ignore your bloody reputation if I thought you weren’t the one who killed my brother.”
With a sinking heart, he watched her eyes widen a bare fraction.
___________
Sarah blinked and simply could not meet his gaze. She glared at the wall behind him.
“What about my brother?” he questioned in a shaky voice.
“Brother?” Her blood ran to ice, draining from her face in a rush. She carefully shook her head. There was no way he could know about her involvement with his brother. She firmly told herself that he'd been too far away to recognize her.
She steeled her nerve and looked him in the eyes.
“Yes,” he hissed, eyes burning holes through her. He towered over her. “You keep rambling about protecting your people, but you forget, I know that exiles don't protect, they kill.”
He sucked in a deep breath and looked like he was about to visit the gallows. “Seven years ago, my brother took me to the Alaska State Fair. He wanted to show me the massive vegetables they grew, because up north they have so much daylight. He raved about it.”
Nick swung away from her, stomping several feet away. He shoved a shaking hand through his tousled hair. “We were leaving the fair when I asked for another funnel cake. I remembered he laughed and told me to meet him at the car. God, I was only twelve, but his trust in me made me feel so grown-up.”
“Please, you've said enough. I get it.” Her heart tightened painfully.
“Do you?” He asked harshly, grabbing her arms, he lifted her until they stood eye-to eye. “He was everything to me and you people, you filthy exiles killed him. I was running toward the car when I saw the assassin port behind him. The assassin was a girl, a mere slip of a girl with white-blond hair. She looked straight at me. Her eyes glowed red in the setting sun. I swore I'd remember her face, but she was a pre-pub and after puberty she changed. Did you know he looked straight at me when she killed him? I shouted, but he never stood a chance. She thrust her sword through his back. Before I could take another step, they ported away.”
“Richard was older. A sword through his chest wouldn't have killed him,” Sarah said softly, aching with the pain she'd inadvertently caused Nick. Could fate have dealt her any worse a blow? She didn't think so, at least not until he spoke again.
“You’re right. A sword through his heart wouldn’t have killed him, but I'm sure over the next few weeks he wished he was dead. The assassin even sent us a lock of his hair wrapped in a black ribbon,” he said, glaring at her. “A black ribbon is Lady Sarah Trellick’s calling card. Isn’t it?”
Heat filled his eyes as he softly added, “I never told you his name.”
She stilled, knowing where this was going, knowing she couldn't argue. Pulling the Dyrst’Lye card had been the right decision after all. However, she had hoped at the time that threatening him with destroying her lifeBud would make him admit he loved her. She’d never been so wrong in her entire life. He really did hate her. He hated her with an intensity that few ever saw in an enemy, much less a lifeMate. Maybe finding one of the Dyrst’Lye wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
“Having a lifeMate suddenly appear in my dreams threw me. Having you turn out to be an exile muddied the waters even more.” His hands tightened on her arms, pulling her up higher. “How you must've laughed at me. You would've only been twelve. The connection didn't click until a few days ago, not until after the explosion, but that's your calling card, isn't it?”
“I can explain,
” she said, grief welling up in her chest. “Please, give me that chance.”
His eyes turned into bottomless pits of ice. She'd lost him.
“Black ribbon is your calling card,” he bellowed in her face. “A simple black ribbon delivered to the surviving family member's home. A bloody war token, a way for everyone to know Lady Sarah has killed again.”
A bloodcurdling scream of terror interrupted her answer.
Brianna ran toward them holding her arm, blood streamed down the length of it.
“Worms!” Brianna screamed.
Worms? Sarah blinked, cocking her head to one side. Then she saw what Brianna ran from.
Long, milky-white creatures dropped from holes in the ceiling, red spikes quivered along their fat backside. Six to eight feet long, and a foot around, they raced after the bleeding girl in an inchworm like manner.
Additional worms dropped from the ceiling. Snapping after their fleeing prey, rows of sharp teeth glinted under the luminous glow of the crystal tunnel. Dozens of ravenous creatures flowed across the floor.
Sarah snarled, but deep down she was thankful for the timely interruption. Without giving it a second thought, she reached for the synth surrounding them, and touched the energy.
She stifled a smile as synth crystal once again answered her mental call. Fleetingly, she weighed her options. One, they could try to outrun the synth worms. Not likely, as the poisonous worms, guarding the synth tunnels, were notoriously fast and rabidly protective of their home turf. Two, she could port the three of them out of the tunnels. Also not likely, as she would have to make them both disappear and at the moment she was hurting. She might make their vanishing act a bit too permanent. Third, she could activate one of the doorways. That, she decided with a careless shrug was unfortunately her best option. As far as myth went, synth worms never ventured through any of the doorways.
She briefly considered calling Mac, but decided she was angry enough that she wanted the challenge of whatever lay beyond the unknown doorway. Or perhaps, she simply didn’t care.
She knew from the former Chi’Kehra’s journal, the area she stood in was a Portal Hallway, a naturally occurring and very weird side effect that happened after the Ancients created the first ruins. His journal noted that once the ruins were operational, portals (or gateways) began opening without rhyme or reason - which, of course, presented her current problem.
Emma (Dark Fire) Page 30