“Not funny.” I cleared my throat and shook my head. “But I’m not a Giant. I’m a Human.”
“That has never mattered. There are Giants who are mated to other types of Metas.” He paused, his eyes running over my face. “But there’s never been a Human before. You are the first.”
“How exciting,” I mumbled dryly. My brows plunged low as a thought occurred. “How long is this mate business for?”
“Forever.”
My jaw dropped open.
He smirked.
“But I’m not immortal. I don’t live forever.”
“You will.”
That made no sense.
I nibbled on my bottom lip. “Would you mind repeating that? I don’t think I heard you correctly.”
“You. Will. Live. Forever.”
I countered instantly, “How?”
There had to be a catch.
“When I kill you, you will live forever.”
“Excuse me?” I squirmed in his arms—hard. “Let me down. Right now. You have lost your fucking mind.”
His nose crinkled as he sat me down as if it physically pained him to let me go. “You really won’t like what I have to say next if you didn’t like that.”
I took two large steps back from him.
He missed nothing. “Running from me is futile.”
I knew that. It didn’t mean I couldn’t try. “What else were you going to say that I won’t like?” I had a bad feeling about this, my stomach turning queasy.
He tossed the handle of his sword into his other hand, his dominant hand if I wasn’t mistaken. His wrist rotated. The handle turned red, and the black blade appeared.
Gan shrugged a shoulder as he took a step closer to me, his attractive features grim. “I have to kill you within twenty-four hours of the sword claiming you. Or you die. Permanently. The magic will take your life if I don’t make the ultimate sacrifice for the gift it has granted me.”
My chin trembled, and my heart pounded. “The ultimate sacrifice being spilling your mate’s blood?”
He didn’t answer his eyes intent.
I held my hands up between us. “Just wait a second there. I want to talk to other Giants to verify what you’re saying.” This couldn’t be real.
One black eyebrow lifted. “You don’t trust me?”
“We barely even know each other!”
“That will change once I kill you.”
“Do you know how crazy you sound right now?” I shrieked and took two more steps back. He took one, cutting the distance again. I kept my hands up as a barrier between us. “This is insane.”
“It’s not something I wish to do,” he answered quietly. He shook his head. “You’re right. We barely know each other right now, but from what I do know, I don’t want to lose you.”
“You will lose me if you kill me!”
His lavish lips thinned into a straight line. “It must be done.” He took another step closer to me. “Don’t fight me. I don’t want to hurt you anymore than I must to make you immortal.”
I lifted to the balls of my feet. “Too bad.” My lips turned into a sneer, and my hands balled into fists in front of me. “If you won’t give me time to make sure this isn’t a concocted delusion you’ve made up, you’re going to have to fight me.”
His smile was grim, even though his eyes shone with pride. “That’s my mate.” He rotated his wrist and swung his sword as he set his feet into a fighting stance.
The ground shook beneath us.
I planted my feet firmly and growled. “Keep your damn magic to yourself. Make this a fair fight.”
“I never fight fair. I win. Always,” he muttered absently. His attention turned from me to the walkway as he stared through the cracked glass. “And that wasn’t me.”
“What?” I grumbled. I didn’t take my eyes off him. I wasn’t about to be tricked. “Are you screwing with me?”
He straightened from his stance, and hissed, “Get behind me.”
His tone was completely serious.
I lowered my hands and turned in the direction he was looking. My eyes dried out they opened so wide. “Are they being attacked?”
He ground his teeth together, clearly wanting to join the fight. “Yes. It’s the damn rebels again. They never learn.”
I pointed my finger at the fighting, my tone entirely innocent. “You can go help your president if you want.”
He snorted and glared at the fighting. “And let you run off as soon as I leave the room? I don’t think so.”
“Don’t blame me for trying.”
Suddenly, a black, circular blob was tossed hard from the resistance. It arced through the air. I watched it with trepidation. Oxygen rushed from my lungs as soon it landed with a smack on the cracked glass not five feet away from my face, sticking with morbid intention.
“Bomb,” I whispered, frozen in place by my own fear.
Gan roared and pivoted.
I choked as his deadly blade sliced into my chest.
It pierced my heart and slammed through my back.
Blood flew from my mouth as he held me close.
Agony hammered my skull, and my legs weakened.
My heart stuttered and squeezed.
“I’m so sorry,” Gan breathed against my ear.
The bomb detonated, and the fiery heat blasted us through the air. My eyes closed as death consumed me.
12
Lifetimes passed before my eyes. Lands I had never seen before, beautiful and terrifying. A name was given to the planet: Vaimm. It was the Meta home planet. I watched as hundreds of years flashed by, how the world evolved, how the Metas evolved. I experienced the destruction they caused, the desolation when natural disasters struck again and again. And again.
I watched friendships bloom and then end.
Lovers came and went.
But true love was always absent.
Jealousy when others found their mates.
I watched death after deaths. Always by his hands.
Only one bond lasted. The boy with the golden eyes. Their friendship was forever, a connection that would never be broken no matter what they experienced together.
They had to leave their home planet.
The hope and despair to find refuge during hundreds of years of space travel. Many solar systems came and went, none habitable. Constant fighting with Metas. Depression of living like vagabonds through the galaxies. The absolute elation when the Metas discovered the Seldova solar system.
The intense desperation to fight the aliens for land, the Humans who had found the solar system first. Twelve years of war through the eyes of the powerful and mighty. The adrenaline of fighting a foe who would never be more dominant than them.
The golden-eyed man eventually demanding the Humans not be entirely annihilated, the Metas resisting their need to propel the Humans into complete extinction. The courage to offer peace. The basic want for salvation. The demand for rule.
Then I saw me. I saw me through his eyes.
All of it, I viewed through his eyes.
My mate.
My mate had saved me in death.
The visions finally ceased.
Hard ground was behind my back, the temperature cold that I laid upon. I patted my hands by my sides, the roughness of concrete underneath the pads of my fingers.
My throat was dry, my tissue burning.
I coughed and hacked, my entire body jarring with it.
I licked my dry lips and blinked open my eyes.
I instantly shut them against the smoke before me.
“Gan?” I coughed, sucking in another lungful of gray smoke. “Gan, where are you?”
I jerked as a sharp clang of metal dropping on concrete rang out above my head. I rolled onto my side and pulled my shirt up over my nose. The smoke made it difficult to see, but I squinted through the haze.
I lay in what appeared to be a warehouse that had been bombed. Bodies littered the floor around me. Giants and Humans, it made no
difference. Beams from the ceiling were hanging precariously around the edges of the room. The walls were charred black, and construction debris was on fire to my far left.
Then I remembered there had been a bomb that had gone off. I looked up and studied the ceiling further. There was a hole the size of a zipper directly above me. I studied further through the smoke rising out of the hole and saw we had fallen at least ten stories.
And I was alive.
I patted my chest. It was whole. My clothes still bore the stain of my blood, and my shirt was ripped, but there was no evidence of a sword piercing my heart.
I stared blindly before me. I was immortal.
Gan had killed me. Saved me—forever.
My mate.
A fierce possession overtook my entire being, sending adrenaline rushing through my veins. I stood on shaking legs and frantically peered at all of the bodies.
“Gan!”
The Humans were all dead, their heads splattered on the hard ground. However, the Giants were still breathing, even though they weren’t moving.
A cough erupted behind me.
I whirled around, my expression hopeful. “Gan?”
It wasn’t my mate.
An entire team of resistance fighters was rushing into the room. Their arms were full of weapons and bombs made to kill. The leader held up a fist when he saw me standing through the gray smoke, the fire backlighting my frame.
He shouted, “We’ve got a Human survivor! Grab her before we bag the Metas.”
Shit.
I started nudging the Giant next to me with my foot, whispering harshly, “Wake up!”
He groaned quietly and turned his head in my direction. Soot covered his face, but distinctive golden eyes blinked up at me in the firelight.
It was President Ol Grazad.
I lifted my attention to the Humans making their way toward me and kept my regard on them. I whispered, “Rebels are here, and all of the Giants are knocked out.” My nostrils flared, and my voice trembled in worry. “I can’t find Gan through the smoke.”
He nodded once in understanding.
The president was damn silent for a huge ass Giant as he carefully crawled backward, away from the flame lighting the room. Within seconds, I couldn’t see him at all. All of Gan’s memories of the president were right. He was deadly in an attractive package.
Just like my mate.
I coughed into my fist and searched the ground again.
My eyes caught on a profile. A pretty profile with dried blood on his face and his arm twisted oddly behind his back. His lips were parted as he breathed evenly.
Gan.
I glanced at the Humans who were almost on me.
I couldn’t risk attracting attention in his direction.
I would have to leave him there.
My stomach twisted at the thought.
The president was going to have to do the dirty work to save his people. It was a good thing I had Gan’s memories, or I wouldn’t have trusted the president as much as I did to handle this mess. But I now knew what he was capable of.
The two of them together were the most frightening threats I had known. Nothing compared to the bloodshed and supremacy they’d handled in their forever lives.
Gan twitched on the ground where he lay.
I ground my teeth together.
He needed to stay still until the rebels were past him.
That was when I felt it.
My new memories told me what it was.
The air wavered all around, the smoke swaying in the breeze of powerful magic. The president was at work.
He was waking my mate.
13
Gan jerked to a sitting position, his eyes flying open wide. In seconds, he took in the scene around him, even as he popped his shoulder back into place. His eyes landed on my frightened gaze, the rebels instantly reacting to the Giant awakening.
They still weren’t quick enough.
Gan jumped to his feet, and a burst of magical energy washed throughout the entire room as he roared with fury.
My mate had a special gift. It was the gift of death.
His rage was an energy all-powerful.
My hair flew back as the energy snapped throughout the warehouse. All whom he aimed it upon screamed in pain and dropped to their knees.
I watched in morbid fascination as the Humans aged before my very eyes. Wrinkles appeared on their faces. Their hair grew and turned to white. Soon, their bones became frail and could no longer hold them up as they withered in pain. All the resistant members died in minutes, their skin still flaking off. Nothing but bones, hair, and clothes remained.
The skull and bones on Gan’s bar door were a warning. It was much different than I had originally thought, though. He was a Giant with death magic. All the Giants who came into his bar entered at their own risk—because he could end an immortal.
The Giants on the ground began to wake, their heads lifting and eyeing the scene with wariness. Their gazes flicked to Gan and quickly away. My mate was still furious. No one messed with him when he was this way.
I shook my head past the shock of seeing him use one of his magical gifts with my own eyes—not through his memories. I raised my hands and patted the air and carefully made my way through the waste that was the rebels.
“Gan, it’s all right. I’m fine. See?” I waved my hands up and down my body. “I’m completely untouched.”
His nostrils flared as he breathed heavily.
I didn’t think he was able to talk yet.
My foot nudged a dead body, so I stepped over it with ease, not glancing down at the brains splattered on the floor. “Why don’t we take a walk and your men can see why the Intra never came. There must be an issue with them.”
He bared his teeth. “Yes. There is obviously a traitor in their group who allowed this scum in here.”
“I don’t believe that’s what she was referring to,” the president stated calmly. He was walking casually to us through the smoke, completely trusting in his best friend. “But you are right. We need to find out who the traitor is.”
I bent and lifted a sword from the ground near my mate, using all of my strength to do so. It turned red in my hand. I smirked, attempting to lighten the mood. “You dropped your sword again. You’ll lose this thing if you aren’t careful.”
He literally shook his head to clear his mind from his fury. When his silver eyes met mine, they were calm and focused. He snorted softly. “A Giant’s sword has a way of finding its owner again.”
I winked. “I know. I saw all your memories.”
His smile was gentle. “And I yours.”
Gan started to step toward me.
The president held up a quick hand. “Wait.”
His tone was quiet and deadly.
My mate stopped moving instantly, and his silver eyes quickly scanned the ground before him. “What is it? Another bomb?”
“No. Just hold on.” The president stepped forward into our space, creating a circle with our bodies. He glanced back at the other Giants who were getting to their feet and then looked at us. He eyed me with something like suspicion, making my spine straighten. Then he leaned forward, keeping his eyes on his friend. With the quietest, most serious voice, he breathed, “Why aren’t you two in heat right now? You already killed her, didn’t you? She did survive that blast.”
I stared, and then comprehension dawned.
The heat. It occurred for mates after they bonded.
It was a damn sex frenzy.
My brows furrowed, not feeling anything like I had seen happen through Gan’s memories. Those mates couldn’t control themselves. They didn’t care what they were doing or who was around. As soon as they were bound, sex took place no matter what.
Gan’s head cocked as he stared at the president, his words slow—and thoughtful. “Maybe it’s because she’s a Human and not a Meta? A Giant has never mated with a Human before. We’re definitely bound. I saw all of her memories, an
d she’s immortal now.”
That was when I noticed something.
My eyes widened, and my breath hitched.
Both Giants turned their heads in my direction.
“What?” they asked as one.
I blinked like an idiot. “Gan’s sword.”
“Yes, you’re holding it,” the president grumbled. “And very poorly, I might add.”
I shook my head. “No, his sword. It’s on his belt.” All of our eyes went to Gan’s waist. There, on his belt, was his sword. I mumbled in confusion, “Or maybe it’s not his?”
“It’s mine.” Gan stiffened, his concern remaining on the sword at his waist, his voice gruff. “I remember now. You died in my arms. I barely had time to stuff it back in its sheath before your memories hit and the conference room tore apart.”
All three of us turned our attention to the sword still in my hands. I struggled under the weight of it, the damn thing still glowing.
I shook my head, my fingers cramping around the handle. “Then what the fuck is going on? This stupid one is glowing too. Whose sword is this?”
Gan mumbled absently, “No Giant’s sword is stupid.” His eyes captured mine with pure possession. “You are my mate. There must be a mistake.”
The president carefully opened his suit jacket and stared down at his own waist. On his belt, there was a sheath.
It was empty.
The three of us stared in stunned silence.
Until it was ended by Gan’s wrath.
He growled, “I love you, asshole. But fuck no.”
14
President Ol Grazad released his jacket. He peered up slowly. His eyes were hiding all emotions he was feeling. He stated quietly, “This can’t be right. There’s never been a mated threesome in Giant history.”
My eyebrows shot up in apprehension. “Maybe it’s not your sword? It might be someone else’s.” I continued babbling, “Or maybe it’s just because I’m Human. Maybe all swords glow for me, and it’s just a fluke.”
Blade of Forever (The Complex Book 0) Page 5