by S. T. Bende
“I get it. Let’s just get this over with.”
“I hope you do get it. I need to get dinner in the oven before the Assignment Meeting, so I can’t be here past eleven. Move it or lose your other hand.”
“Whatever.” Christian glared at me and retreated to the corner of the clearing. “On your mark.”
I straightened my ponytail and dropped into a fighting stance. “Now!”
Three exhausting hours later, I swiped mascara across my lashes and put on my anniversary present from Gunnar. The diamond studs sparkled against my earlobes, so I added a touch of glittery shadow to my eyelids to set them off. A few quick strokes with my boar bristle brush and my long, blonde hair shone to perfection.
“Come on, babe. We’re going to be late.” Gunnar handed me the gold sash hanging over the bedpost. I glanced up and couldn’t help but smile. His wild brown hair made him look like he’d just rolled out of bed, but I knew him well enough to know he’d spent a good five minutes artfully arranging each spike to frame his face.
“Why are you staring at me?” Gunnar tilted his head.
“You’re just cute.” I tied my sash in a loose knot around my waist. We weren’t supposed to accessorize our dress robes, but they were unfortunate-looking on their own. All the riches of the realms and this was the best Odin could come up with? Honestly.
“I’m ready. Wait.” I swiped a coat of gloss over my lips. “Now I’m ready.”
Christian and his iron will had left me seriously behind schedule. I’d run all the way home, thrown my roast in the oven, taken a super short shower without even exfoliating, and we were still barely going to make the Assignment Meeting. But it’d been worth it. I’d left Christian singing my praises -- he wouldn’t be a liability to his unit any more. With a few years’ practice, he might even make the Elite Team.
“Hold on. Before we leave… you have something right here.” Gunnar came up from behind me. He wrapped strong arms around my waist and pulled me to his chest. It felt hard against my back, the muscles still knotted from his morning workout. I closed my eyes and breathed in his soapy smell. It was comforting and exhilarating all at once. My senses stirred as Gunnar tugged the neck of my robe down, exposing my shoulder. He brushed his lips against the muscle with a feather light touch. A thousand nerve endings performed jumping jacks with military precision.
“Oh, do I?” My head fell to the side. “What about right here?”
“There too.” Gunnar kissed a trail from my shoulder to the nape of my neck. His tongue flicked against my skin, sending the aerobically gifted nerves into overdrive. They pulsed against each brush of his lips, driving a slow burn deep into my abdomen. I reached up to grip the spikes of his still-damp hair, and as I did he covered my stomach with one massive hand. He pulled me closer as he kissed me from behind. He raked my earlobe between his teeth, a decision that was sure to derail our afternoon. Who cared? This was going to be a much more enjoyable way to spend the day.
I whirled around so my chest pushed up against his. Gunnar palmed my behind with both hands, pulling me closer. “Have I ever told you that you have an exquisite backside?”
“I believe you once said that was why you married me,” I teased.
Gunnar squeezed lightly, and my head swam from the rush of blood. In one swift movement he bent down and clothes-lined my knees so I fell into his arms. As he stalked toward the bed we heard an irate voice from the living room.
“We are late!”
Ull.
“Shove off, mate!” Gunnar yelled back. He continued his determined trajectory toward the bed.
“Wait.” My fingers grazed his face. The prickly fibers of his day-old beard tickled my skin. “Odin will kill us if we miss the meeting. Then, Ull will kill us again for ticking off Odin. How many lives do you have left?”
“Who said anything about missing the meeting? I only need half an hour. He’ll still be working his way through the tertiary gods by then.” Gunnar gave me a look that sent tingles down my back. “You really want to stop doing this?”
“No.” I stared at the emerald eyes twinkling at me. “But I also don’t want to hear it from Ull for the next five years.”
“Wouldn’t hurt him to break one rule.” Gunnar grumbled. “Scratch that. It might. Fine, doll. You win this one. But this isn’t over.”
“I should hope not,” I stroked the stubble dusting his jaw. “Besides, you might only need half an hour. But I’m going to need more.” With a wink I laced my fingers through Gunnar’s. He let out a soft growl.
“Careful what you wish for. You don’t know what you’re getting into.”
“Oh, I know exactly what I’m getting into.” I pulled my hand away from his to smack his behind. Then I strode down the hallway, punctuating my exit with a hair toss, and calling over my shoulder. “The question is, do you?”
Find more information about all of the Elsker Saga books at http://stbende.blogspot.com
If you liked The Elsker Saga, you’ll love Kristie Cook’s Soul Savers series. The first book in this nail biting, heart pounding, New Adult paranormal romance series is free on all platforms. Check out this excerpt from Book One, PROMISE, and find out about all of Kristie’s books at http://www.kristiecook.com/ .
SOUL SAVERS BOOK ONE
PROMISE
Alexis Ames has a life full of promise...but not all promises can be kept.
When Alexis Ames is attacked by creatures that can't be real, she decides it's time she learns who she really is, with or without the help of her mother, who guards their family's secrets closely. After meeting the inhumanly attractive, multi-talented Tristan Knight, however, Alexis retreats behind her façade of normalcy...until she discovers he's not exactly normal either. Then their secrets begin to unravel.
Their union brings hope and promise to her family's secret society, the Angels' army, and to the future of mankind. But it also incites a dangerous pursuit by the enemy - Satan's minions and Tristan's creators. After all, Alexis and Tristan are a match made in Heaven and in Hell.
And now, a sneak peek at PROMISE:
The sensation of being watched clung to me like a spider web, invisible threads bristling the back of my neck and down my spine. I brushed my fingers across my shoulders, as if I could drag the feeling off and flick it away.
It was ridiculous, of course. Not just ridiculous to think I could pull it off so easily, as if it really was strands of a web, but it was even more absurd to feel it in the first place. Nobody ever held that much interest in me. Occasionally, people stared with curiosity when they picked me up on their “weird radars,” but usually they just ignored me. No one ever watched so intensely.
Yet the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end at the feeling as I visited my favorite Washington, D.C., monument for likely the last time. I sat on the stone steps with the stately Thomas Jefferson behind me and gazed over the Potomac River tidal basin, enjoying the peace just before sunset. Well, trying to enjoy it anyway.
I blamed the ominous feeling on my unruly imagination, with it being twilight and the sky looking so foreboding. It was the perfect backdrop for one of my stories. The sun hung low—an eerie, orange ball glowing behind a shroud of haze, a column of steel-blue cloud rising around it, threatening to snuff it out. I envisioned something not-quite-human watching it from the shadows, waiting to begin its hunt under the cover of darkness.
That’s all it is, just my fascination with mythical creatures, I told myself. Uh-huh. Right.
Surrendering hope for a peaceful moment, I hurried to the closest Metro station. The feeling of being followed stuck with me on the train ride home, but at my stop in Arlington, I forgot the sinister sensation. Some kids from school stood near the top of the escalator as I stepped off. I’d witnessed before their favorite summer activity: dressing in all black and hassling people exiting the Metro station. So mature, but what can you expect? They were younger—they hadn’t graduated with me over a month ago—and apparently, still stuck in th
e rebellious phase that I’d never been through myself.
I usually took the elevator to circumvent them, but had been too distracted tonight.
“Hey, there’s the weird girl who heals,” one of them said loudly to the others. “It’s s’posed to be really freaky to watch.”
“Hey, freak, got any tricks to show us?” another called.
I pretended not to hear and crossed the street to avoid them. My eyes stung, but no tears came. I wouldn’t allow them. It was my own fault—I’d been a klutz with the Bunsen burner in Chemistry and my lab partner saw my skin heal the burn almost instantly. People harassed me about it every day the last two months of school. If I didn’t let them get to me, they were usually just annoying. Usually.
Night had crept its way in during my ride home. I walked quickly through the bright commercial district and turned down the darker residential street for home, still four blocks away. Footsteps behind me echoed my own. I quickened my pace. Two more days. That’s all. Just two more days and we’re out of here.
“C’mon, dude, we just wanna know if it’s true,” a boy’s voice said.
“Yeah, just show us. It doesn’t hurt, right?”
I glanced over my shoulder. Three teens followed me and I caught the glint of a blade in one of their hands. I realized their plan to satisfy their curiosity—slice me open and watch the wound heal. What is wrong with people? Of course, it hurts! Bungalow-style homes lined the street, each with an empty front porch. Not a single person sat outside on this summer’s evening. No one to witness their fun and my agony. My heartbeat notched up with anxiety.
Pop! Crack! The streetlights along the entire block blacked out at the sounds. I inhaled sharply and halted mid-stride. The footsteps behind me ceased, too.
“What the hell?” Surprise and fear filled the boy’s question.
A couple appeared from nowhere, three houses down, standing in the middle of the street. It was too dark to see their features and I could only tell their genders by their shapes. The woman’s high-heeled shoes clicked on the pavement as they walked toward me. The man, big and burly, pulled his shirt over his head and handed it to the woman. Without breaking stride, he took off one shoe and then the other, leaving him with only pants. What the…?
I considered my options. The woman and her half-naked companion blocked my way home, but I wouldn’t just raise my chin and walk brusquely by them, pretending they meant no harm. Because I just knew they did. I stood trapped between the boys with the knife and the bizarre couple. Somehow, I knew the knife was less threatening.
“Boo!” The woman cackled as the boys took off running. As she and the man closed in on me, the alarms screamed in my head.
Evil! Bad! Run! Go!
My sixth sense had never been so frightened. I couldn’t move, though. Fear paralyzed my body. My heart hammered painfully against my ribs.
The couple stopped several yards away. The woman studied me as if assessing a rare animal, while the man lifted his face to the sky, his whole body trembling. I followed his gaze to see the thin, gauzy clouds sliding across a full moon. The woman cackled again. Panic sucked the air from my lungs.
“Alexis, at last,” the woman said, her voice raspy, like a long-time smoker’s. “We’ll get such a nice reward for you.”
My eyes widened and my voice trembled. “D-do I know you?”
She grinned, a wicked glint in her eyes. “Not yet.”
Or ever, if I can help it.
I turned and ran. My pulse throbbed in my head. Breaths tore through my chest. My mind couldn’t focus, couldn’t make sense of this absurd couple and what they wanted with me, but my body kept moving. The bright lights of the commercial area I’d just left beaconed me to their safety.
The woman abruptly appeared in front of me before I was half-way down the street. The shock sent me hurling to the ground and my head smacked hard against the pavement. Stars shot across my eyes. My hands burned from asphalt scrapes. Fighting the blackness trying to swallow my vision, I rolled onto my side, gasping for breath. A sticky wetness pooled under my temple.
My eyes rolled up to the woman, who now pointed what looked like a stick at me. Her lips moved silently as she waved a pattern in the air. I felt pinned to the ground, though nothing physically restrained me. Panic flailed uselessly below the surface of my paralyzed body, making my breaths quick and shallow. I was done for. They could do anything they wanted with me. There was no escape now.
My vision faltered. Now two women stood over me, two sticks pointed at me. Two moons wavered behind them. I didn’t know if it was fear or the head injury that caused everything to slide apart and together again. I squeezed my eyes shut.
But I couldn’t close my ears, couldn’t block out the gnarl. My eyes popped open with terror, expecting to see a wild beast, but the feral sound came from the man. His eyes rolled back, showing only whites. His hands clenched into fists. His muscles strained, the veins protruding like ropes along the bulges. His body shook violently until the edges of his shape became a blur.
“I can’t hold it,” he growled.
“Then don’t,” the woman said. “Don’t fight it. It’s time!”
A ripping sound tore through the night as the man lurched forward, his skin shredding. A gelatinous liquid spurt out of him like an exploding jar of jelly. His pants tore into ribbons as his body lengthened and grew. The shape of his limbs transformed. His face elongated, his nose and mouth becoming a… Holy crap! A snout?! I gasped, a scream stuck in my throat. By the time his front…legs…hit the ground, fur covered his body. He was no longer man. He was— A freakin’ wolf?!
The beast moved closer, a low growl in its throat. Its stench of decaying corpses and rotting leaves overwhelmed my sensitive nose, the disgustingly sweet odor gagging me and forcing me to breathe through my mouth.
Pop! Another woman appeared, again out of nowhere. Her pale skin glowed and her white hair shimmered in the moonlight.
“I smell blood,” she said, her voice a flutter of wind chimes. “Mmm…delicious blood.”
The scrapes on my hands had already healed, but not the cut on my head. It must have been deep enough for a normal person to need stitches. For me, it could take ten minutes to heal. So my blood was still fresh.
I could only smell the wolf’s rancid odor as it hovered over me.
“Back off, mutt,” the white-blonde snarled as she stepped closer. “This is too important for the likes of you.”
“How dare you!” Stick-woman gasped. “We had her first!”
“Alexis is mine. Always mine!”
What the hell is happening?! What do they want with me? Whoever they were, they wanted to do more than just terrorize me. I could hear it in the way the blonde said I was hers. She wanted me to hurt…or worse. Cold fear slid down my spine and hot tears burned my eyes.
Pop! My heart jumped into my throat as another man materialized in the darkness and strode toward me. Not more! The wolf growled. Both women hissed. Goose bumps crawled along my skin.
The man stepped in front of me, placing himself between me and the others.
Good! Very good! Safe! My sense slightly calmed me.
“You’re alone?” the blonde asked. “Ha! You haven’t a chance.”
The wolf lunged at my protector. He raised his hands and thrust them out toward the beast and it flew back as if blasted by something unseen. I heard a thud and a whimper as it hit the pavement. I blinked several times, disbelieving what I just saw.
The women hissed again. The first one raised her stick, pointing it at my protector. The blonde took a step toward me.
Pop! Another person appeared, between the two women and my human shield. The women responded immediately—their teeth gleamed in the moonlight as their lips spread into grins.
No way could my protector stand up against this second man. The new one was taller, wider in the shoulders, thicker in the torso and arms than my protector, who was now out-numbered and out-muscled. The second man took a si
ngle step toward us. I didn’t dare look up at him, afraid of what I might see. But I felt his eyes rake over me. My trembling turned to quakes.
My sixth sense continued shouting conflicting alarms, everyone’s intentions so strong. Good and Evil both screamed in my head and I couldn’t tell which this new person was.
But then he turned to face the women and their expressions darkened. And I knew. He was on our side. I swatted down a leap of hope, though. The attackers still out-numbered my protectors.
The wolf, now back on all fours, stalked toward us. The fur on the back of its neck rose. Hunger shone in its eyes as its lips curled back in a snarl. Its pace quickened, my heart galloping with it. It lunged once more. I tried to scream. My constricted throat only allowed a whimper.
Then the wolf flew backwards again and fell to the ground a second time. The bigger man’s hand hung in the air, palm straight out facing the wolf, as if he’d hit it, but I never saw the contact.
Both women eyed me with obvious greed. Then their eyes shifted back to my brawny protector and confusion and even fear flickered across their faces. He turned his hand toward them. Their eyes widened, looking as terrified as I felt.
They disappeared with two pops.
“I’ve got Alexis! Take care of that one!” The lankier man easily lifted me into his arms and sprinted toward my house. The beast’s stench continued to fill my head, a persistent odor that wouldn’t leave even as distance separated us.
A wolfish howl behind us diminished into a human cry of pain. I shuddered in the arms of the stranger.
Table of Contents
Title page
BACK COVER COPY
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve