Then, although her eyes were still glowing with merriment, a slight frown marred her features as she studied him. His heart began to race under her all-too-knowing gaze yet he couldn’t take his eyes off the strong, sexy female who stirred him unlike any other.
Frustrated and beyond angry with himself, he quickly shoveled the rest of the food into his mouth, not tasting the eggs or hash browns. He needed to get away. Without looking at anyone, he filled another plate with food and slipped out of the kitchen, and took it down into the basement to Amelis.
“We called for Sasha. Something is wrong with her,” one of the sentinels on duty said as soon as Soroyan walked in.
He moved closer to see Amelis on the bed, shivering while sweat dripped down her face and neck.
“Are you sick? Is it the baby?” he asked. She didn’t answer. Soroyan opened the cell and walked in, finally drawing a reaction from the woman as he drew close. “I asked if you were sick, or if something is wrong with the baby.”
Slowly, eyes that were a greenish yellow rose to meet his as if she hadn’t realized he were there. “You wouldn’t understand,” she finally said, turning away from him.
“It looks like she’s going through some kind of withdrawal,” Mark, the Were-wolf they had rescued from the Ilyium’s compound not so long ago, said as he walked in.
Soroyan studied the tall, lean male with his hair buzzed close to his head. Tattoos covered him, symbols. Soroyan had no idea what they meant.
He turned back to Amelis and shoved the plate and bottle of water at her. “Here, eat this.”
She started to refuse, so Soroyan let out a little growl. “Think of the baby.”
Finally, eyes spitting fire at him, she accepted the plate and water.
Soroyan reined in his impatience to question the woman and exited the cell. He made his way across the room and leaned against the wall where he could keep an eye on Amelis as she ate.
He didn’t have to wait long before the healer walked in. Before he could say anything, Sasha turned her back on him and entered the cell.
“You piss her off too?” Mark asked as he joined him in holding the wall up.
Soroyan took a deep breath and let it out. “Yeah, a long time ago.” Then he looked at Mark. “I am surprised you are still here,” he said, knowing Mark had to be healed by now.
“I planned to leave, but Tierney asked me to stay a while longer, help out with protection duty.” Mark shrugged. “Besides, until I know where Arlow, Raymund, or the rest of my pack are, there isn’t much I can do.”
Soroyan knew the Were-wolf beside him wanted revenge for his alpha and other pack mates that had been betrayed and sold to the Ilyium. “Will you take over as alpha when you find them?”
Mark sighed. “Not sure. Depends on who is left when I’m done I guess. Arlow, Raymund, and all of their followers need to die.”
Soroyan understood. To rebuild the pack Mark needed people he could trust at his back.
Sasha emerged from the cell and walked over. “The baby is fine, though she asked me for some of Zander’s blood, so I’d say she’s likely been boosting her magic with Supe blood and is in withdrawal.”
Sasha turned to the guards. “If she gets worse, call me.” Then she walked out.
“Looks like you were right,” Soroyan said.
Mark nodded, watching Amelis. “Yeah, I’ve seen it before, unfortunately.” Then he pushed away from the wall. “Well, gotta go work out with Thaniel,” Mark said and then walked out of the room.
After Amelis finished eating, Soroyan tried once again to get her to tell him something useful, but she still refused to talk. He’d just conceded that he’d have to ask Raven to take another shot at her, when a young male pack mate ran into the room.
“The Raizarch wolf delegation has arrived.” The young wolf panted out of breath and full of excitement.
Soroyan swore and then took a deep breath. “Tell Kyrian I will be right out.”
The youth took off without another word and Soroyan motioned at the two guards. “Keep an eye on her.” Then he hurried through the garage and outside into the cloudy winter day.
There were at least thirty Raizarch wolves in human form, a form he knew they wouldn’t be able to hold much longer unless they bound their pack with the Okami’s. They milled tall and proud in the driveway in front of Kyrian.
Soroyan silently made his way over to his brother while their own pack fanned out behind them, still and silent in respect. Soroyan took up position beside Kyrian, noting the absence of Tierney or any of their new allies. “You let Tierney and Jax know we have company?” he asked.
“I was about to contact them when—” Kyrian stopped speaking and Soroyan studied his brother. Usually so strong and fierce, so collected and sure of himself, Kyrian appeared shaken at the sight of the group in front of them. Soroyan scowled and turned to their guests, not sure what had his brother so upset.
Then he saw her. A tall willowy female with long blue hair. Yet it was her silvery-blue eyes—eyes the exact same color and shade as Kyrian’s as they stared right back at his brother––that startled Soroyan.
Beside him, Kyrian sucked in a ragged breath as another female, this one also tall with long, flowing silver hair that hung to her shapely waist, and pale-yellow eyes, moved to stand beside the first. Soroyan had a vague recollection that he’d seen the female before, but couldn’t recall her name.
Still, since Kyrian couldn’t seem to speak, he did it for him. “Welcome,” he said and the two females with two tall males flanking them, moved closer.
“Hinah?” Kyrian whispered, finally finding his voice.
“Greetings, Kyrian, it is good to see you again after so long,” the female with a flash of hurt in her yellow eyes. Then it was gone.
“I never thought I’d see you again,” Kyrian breathed, still not taking his eyes off her.
“Nor I you,” she said with a wistful smile and a little shrug. “But here we are.”
“Yes, here you are,” Kyrian said, then he frowned as his gaze came to rest on the female beside Hinah.
“This is my daughter, Julie,” Hinah said, and Soroyan winced, knowing Kyrian was seeing himself in the woman.
“Is she, are you—?” Kyrian looked from Hinah to Julie then stopped speaking, yet Soroyan could feel how upset he was.
Hinah nodded. “Yes, Julie is your daughter.”
As Soroyan swore silently, the door opened and their allies flowed outside. Hellfire, followed by Brimstone and Sami rushed over while Tierney, Jax, and a few others followed at a slower pace.
“Sami! Hellfire, Brimstone,” Julie grinned and rushed over to the three with Hinah right behind her. Hinah hugged them as well, a smile on her face as she greeted the three who had recently stayed in her home on Tartaria.
“Well, brother, I take it you didn’t know,” Soroyan said quietly to Kyrian. Without looking at him, Kyrian shook his head and Soroyan caught the moisture in his brother’s eyes.
“I had no idea,” Kyrian whispered. Soroyan turned away and watched as Tierney and Jax were introduced and then suddenly Julie gasped. Her hand flew to her mouth and then she weaved her way through the crowd. She stopped in front of Goldy and Isoul, the short reddish-brown-haired Dracones male that Brimstone’s strange friend had dragged over to Earth from Tartaria.
Isoul stood with a happy smile on his face. “Greetings, Julie.”
“Isoul?” Julie grinned at her best friend, then with tears streaming down her face, she threw herself into his arms. “Isoul!”
Beside him, Goldy’s eyes flashed with anger until Julie smiled at her.
“Greetings, I’m Julie, Isoul’s best friend,” she said, then turned back to Isoul. “What in blazes happened to you? We all thought you were dead,” she said and then without waiting for an answer, hugged him again.
Goldy waited a moment longer, and Soroyan could see confusion quickly followed by sadness in her eyes. He saw her hands go to her belly protectively, then
she stiffened her shoulders and thinking everyone was too busy talking to notice, she turned and walked back inside.
Soroyan didn’t know what was between his brother’s newly discovered daughter and Isoul, but he felt for the gentle Dracones woman. First Sami left her for his mate, and even though he didn’t know Goldy well, he had sensed her gentle soul.
“How is my brother?” Isoul asked and Julie rolled her eyes. “He should be resting, recuperating. Instead, he’s frantically searching for you. He refused to believe you dead.”
Isoul frowned. “Why? He hates me.”
“No, he doesn’t,” Julie said, staring intently at him.
“Isoul’s brother got hurt when Sami was there,” Genna said, sidling up to stand beside Soroyan. He glanced at her, surprised. Then, needing some space, he drifted a little distance away. He listened as talk turned to hunting.
“We are hungry, we need to go hunt,” Hinah said a little later.
“We’ve been expecting you. We have plenty of food,” Tierney said and then hesitated. “That is, if you like human food.”
Hinah smiled. “Yes, we are used to eating human food.”
From there, talk led to where the Raizarch wolves would stay. They claimed to be fine sleeping outdoors, but Tierney objected.
“We have too many enemies who have recently discovered where we live,” she said. “You are welcome into our home.” Unlike the Okami wolves, most of the Raizarch wolves were used to living indoors and out, even if they were normally able to take their human form for only six hours once a week. It was how they spent the last five hundred years in the realm where they’d been locked. So, Tierney offered them all rooms, which they accepted.
Soroyan moved closer as Hinah finally turned to Kyrian once again. “The last time I was here, your pack refused to accept our pack’s pledge of allegiance. I hope things will be different this time, we don’t have much time left and there are two thousand Raizarch wolves depending on this alliance to break our curse.”
The Okami wolves all knew that the Raizarch needed to pledge their allegiance to a stronger pack and there were no others stronger than the Okami. They were the strongest in all the realms.
Darkness and pain fill his brother’s eyes as he stared at Hinah. “I would have, and planned to accept your pledge if you hadn’t disappeared all those years ago,” he said softly, though Soroyan caught the tic in his jaw.
Hinah’s eyes flashed with anger. “It certainly wasn’t by choice,” she snapped.
Kyrian blinked. “What do you mean?”
Hinah sighed and her anger melted away as she watched her daughter who was busy introducing everyone else and visiting with their allies. “Look, we can talk about this later, do you accept us this time?”
“Yes, I do. However, we have a problem,” Kyrian said, eyes suddenly weary as he glanced at Soroyan.
Hinah sharpened her gaze on him. “What is it? What’s wrong?” she asked.
With a deep sigh, Kyrian explained how Toren, his son that was needed to mate with the youngest Raizarch female, was missing.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Frustration
Soroyan pounded past the pain in his body on the large black bag hanging from the ceiling in the weight room. Sweat trickled in rivulets from his forehead, down his chest and back as he tried not to stare out the clear glass windows to the pool, where one of his worst torments was doing laps.
His attraction to Raven was driving him crazy.
He needed to do something. Once both packs had gone inside, Soroyan went for a run, not surprised when Kyrian joined him. Together they flew over the rocky terrain without saying a word, both consumed by their own torments. Soroyan enjoyed the pain in his body, as it drove away the need that had been constantly raging through him since he’d first set eyes on Raven.
Yet as much as he enjoyed the cool mountain air, the scents and smells of nature, it wasn’t the same as running in wolf form, which only managed to frustrate him further.
“Are you all right, brother?” Kyrian asked when they stopped to rest and take in the view.
Soroyan frowned. “I’m fine. What about you?” He didn’t like seeing Kyrian unsettled. One of them needed to stay sane for the pack.
Kyrian swallowed deeply and Soroyan could feel the sadness inside of him. “All this time I thought she was dead. Motif told me she was dead.”
Soroyan hadn’t realized how much his brother had cared about the female, Hinah. Of course, back then he hadn’t been around a lot.
“Motif was power hungry and cruel. Besides, he refused to let you see her body, didn’t he?” Soroyan said, anger welling up inside of him at their grandfather’s second who wanted to control the pack through Kyrian.
Soroyan felt pride at how his brother had finally stood up to the male.
“He claimed that she was already buried, he even took me to her grave.” Kyrian shook his head. “If he was still here, I’d break his neck and rip his heart out.”
Soroyan felt his brother’s pain and hatred and understood all too well. “She meant that much to you?” he asked.
Kyrian nodded. “Yes, the connection I felt to Hinah …”
Motif had cheated his brother out of three hundred years with his daughter and the female he loved. Soroyan had killed for less, and now he wished he could do something, anything to ease Kyrian’s pain.
Finally they turned and walked back down the trail, stopping to watch Tierney, Jax, Raven, and Isoul practice with swords. Julie stood to the side watching. Kyrian walked over and stood beside her and Julie gave his brother a welcoming smile.
Soroyan tried to remain impassive, but it was hard not to watch every move that Raven made. She was so sleek—fluid as she moved. Almost as if she were able to anticipate her opponent’s movements.
When they all finished, they gathered together and Soroyan moved wide around the group, not wanting to be noticed. He was hard and aching once again, and didn’t feel like talking to anyone.
His skin prickled with heat as he became aware of Raven’s eyes on him. Still, he continued down to the garage and inside, ending up in the weight room. He needed to work off some of the pressure building inside of him. Surely this would take the edge off. Five minutes later, Thaniel and Mark joined him.
“Hey,” Mark said.
“We didn’t know anyone was here,” Thaniel said with a little smile. He made a point not to lower his eyes.
“It’s fine.” Soroyan continued to lift weights.
Getting the point, neither of them said another word and after an hour and their own workout, they both left.
He was trying to keep his mind on how to locate his nephew and nothing else. Yet now there was even more pressure since the Raizarch wolves had arrived.
Suddenly all his senses went on alert and his blood began to howl in his veins. Tearing his gaze from the black canvas in front of him, he searched around as an enticing scent filled his senses. Tierney’s sinfully sexy aunt had just entered the pool room.
With his head lowered, he watched her drop her robe on a lounge chair, revealing a body tanned and supple. He groaned and pounded the bag harder. Yet he couldn’t take his eyes off of her.
Her body told of a life spent moving, fighting. Her hips swayed and she almost glided as she made her way to the edge of the pool. His whole body tightened in anticipation. He swallowed at the thin strips of material that barely covered the parts he ached to taste. His cock twitched in the shorts Sami had loaned him as he imagined licking her perfect breasts. Trailing kisses down her— Stop!
Slamming the brakes on his mind, he turned away and walked over to the running contraption, determined not to think any more about Raven’s alluring body. He ran until sweat poured off him, but still couldn’t get Raven out of his mind. Finally, he moved back over to the large black punching bag and began to pound the shit out of it.
Movement from the corner of his eyes caught his attention. Soroyan swallowed deeply, his gaze once again riveted on
slender, yet muscular arms as they rose from the water only to dip back down and again. His mouth went dry as Raven slipped through the water with an ease that was otherworldly.
Each stroke was effortless, yet full of purpose and power. She hit the end, turned and began to swim away from him and the sight of her shapely ass, her supple legs … Soroyan couldn’t help imagining what it would feel like to have her touching him with purpose. The insane need he’d been fighting for days now grew stronger. Wanting, needing, it pulsed and pounded, demanding satisfaction. Soroyan growled low in his chest and turned away, knowing he couldn’t let anything distract him from his goals, or from the dark edge of insanity lurking inside him.
As he struggled to control the fierce need that continued to grow, the dark beast he’d locked away for centuries slipped past his defenses and began to rise to the surface.
Soroyan knew he’d have never made it back from the darkness that had consumed him all those years ago, if it hadn’t been for his brother’s love and patience. But lately he’d been hovering back on that lethal edge, and he couldn’t afford to fall back into the darkness because if he did, he feared there’d be no coming back a second time and already the guilt he felt over the things he’d done tore at him daily.
For the first time, he was grateful to the collar that held his power in check. He was so unbalanced, he hated to think of what might happen without it.
Unable to take anymore, he grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat from his brow. Maybe a cold shower would help. Tossing the sopping towel into the laundry basket, he turned and left the weight room only to run into Raven.
Soroyan pulled up before he knocked her down, then noticed the white fluffy robe she wore was cinched at the waist, it hung open at the top, revealing a rounded swell of her breasts as she dried her hair with a towel.
“Soroyan,” Raven said, and he liked the way his name sounded on her tongue. Then she glanced at his bare chest and heat filled her eyes as they slowly traveled down to his workout shorts.
Dracones Boxset Books 1-5 Page 143