“Nothing.”
Tane took a step toward her, sensing something important had just happened. “Hunter …”
“Get on with your interrogation,” Jaelyn snapped. “I expect you to be gone at nightfall.”
“Is she always so charming?” Ariyal taunted, although Tane didn’t miss the edge in his voice. Whatever had occurred between the two of them had been as unwelcome to the Sylvermyst as to Jaelyn.
Turning back to the prisoner, Tane sliced two cuts into the fey’s shoulder and peeled off a small piece of flesh.
“You forgot the rules,” he said.
With a foreign curse, Ariyal leaned away from the hovering sword.
Tane watched in fascination as the blood on the blade sizzled and then melted into steel, as if the sword was absorbing power from the blood.
Interesting.
“Ask what you want,” Ariyal gritted. “How did you avoid being banished with the other Sylvermyst?”
His jaw clenched, but he grudgingly answered. “Our Prince bartered with Morgana le Fay to remain hidden in her sanctuary.”
Hell. Talk about a deal with the devil.
Tane jerked back in shock. “Avalon?”
Ariyal shrugged. “What better place? Nothing could penetrate the shroud of magic.”
Tane could think of a shitload of better places.
Beginning with the fiery pits of hell.
Morgana le Fay was a cruel megalomaniac who had terrorized the fey, and every other demon too weak to withstand her magic, until her seer had predicted that she would be condemned to hell by a descendent of her brother, Arthur.
She’d predictably retreated to her private island and shrouded it in a thick layer of magic that was impossible to penetrate, although she occasionally returned to the world in the hopes of killing off Arthur’s descendents.
A poor choice in the end.
“What did you barter?” he asked.
Ariyal smirked, but Tane sensed the surge in his pulse and the sudden sweating of his palms. Whatever happened on Avalon hadn’t been good.
“We were slaves in her harem.” He ground his teeth so hard it was a wonder they didn’t shatter. “Sex slaves.”
Tane grimaced. He wouldn’t wish that on his worst enemy.
“From what I’ve heard of Morgana I’m surprised you survived.” “Many didn’t.”
“Then you were fortunate that the vampires managed to destroy her.”
The Sylvermyst snorted, but the horror faded from his eyes as he reacted to Tane’s deliberate taunt.
“She was defeated by the descendent of King Arthur.”
“Anna is the mate of a vampire, and it was only with the assistance of my brothers that she survived to battle Morgana le Fey,” Tane said with cool logic. “It would seem you are in our debt.”
“What makes you think I wanted her dead?”
“A lie,” Jaelyn said from the door, her tone stripped of emotions.
Tane smiled. He’d forgotten a hunter’s skill often included being able to sense a lie. “You didn’t ask me a direct question,” Ariyal said, refusing to glance in her direction. “I have broken no rules of the game.”
Yep. Definitely something going on there.
But none of his concern.
Hallelujah.
“What is your interest in the child?” he instead demanded.
“We were hired by the vampire and her wizard to find the child.”
Tane glanced toward Jaelyn. She nodded. “He speaks the truth, but not the full truth.” “You’re a mercenary?”
Ariyal paused, choosing his words with care. “I’m willing to sell our services with the proper incentive.”
“And what incentive did Marika offer you?”
“The opportunity to locate the supposed child of the Dark Lord.”
“Supposed?” Tane latched onto the word, certain that it had been a slip. “Is there some question to the child’s identity?”
The Sylvermyst quickly recovered. “Only a fool accepts rumors and obscured folktale as truth.”
Tane shifted with impatience. Ariyal was too cunning. He answered the question with just enough truth to avoid a painful mutilation, but without telling Tane a damned thing.
“You hope to return the Dark Lord to the world?” he pressed.
“The Sylvermyst have worshipped him before vampires ever crawled from their caves.” Another evasion.
But if he didn’t want to return the Dark Lord, then why was he searching for the baby? It made no sense.
“How does Marika intend to use the child to return the bastard?”
Ariyal shrugged. “She claims the mage has a spell that will resurrect his essence within the child.”
With a growl, Tane shoved the sword back against the fey’s neck, frustration boiling through him.
How the hell could he keep Laylah safe if he was stumbling around blind?
“What are you really up to, Ariyal?”
The Sylvermyst met his blazing gaze without fear. “I’ve answered your questions.”
Deciding that he was going to have to beat the answers out of the bastard, Tane felt a sharp pang of fear slice through him.
He stepped backward, momentarily confused.
Then, his heart slammed against his chest as he realized he was feeling Laylah’s fear, not his own.
“Damn. Laylah needs me.” He was across the cell and pulling open the door just as Jaelyn scrambled out of his path. “Don’t kill him yet, I’m not finished with him.”
“No guarantees,” he heard her mutter before he was charging back to Laylah’s side.
Chapter 18
It was the sensation of strong arms tugging her into a comforting embrace that woke Laylah from her nightmare.
Even then she continued to tremble as she struggled to banish the horrific visions of demons feasting on raw flesh as cities burned.
“Hush Laylah,” Tane murmured, stroking a soft hand down her back. “You’re safe.”
“The child,” she choked out.
Tane reluctantly released his hold on her to peek into the adjoining room, returning so swiftly that Laylah barely had time to untangle herself from the sweat-drenched covers before she was tugged firmly back into his arms.
“He appears well.”
She breathed a sigh of relief, laying her head against his bare chest. “Gods, it was horrible.”
“It was only a dream, my sweet,” he soothed, his exotic male scent teasing at her nose and easing the knot of fear in the pit of her stomach.
“There was blood,” she husked, snuggling against his hard body. “The world was drowning in blood.” “Let it go,” he whispered. “It felt so real.”
“I have you.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “You’re safe.”
Laylah calmed as she realized that for the first time in her life she actually did feel safe.
It was … lunacy.
She was being hunted by a power-hungry vampire, an immoral mage, a horde of evil fairies, and enemies who still lurked in the shadows, if the prophet was to be believed.
But when she was in Tane’s arms, she felt as if there was nothing that could harm her.
She savored the amazing sensation for a moment.
A pity they couldn’t lock out the world and remain together for eternity.
With a grudging sigh she pulled back to meet Tane’s concerned gaze.
“Did you question the Sylvermyst?”
He made a noise of disgust. “For what it was worth.”
“He wouldn’t answer?”
“On the contrary, he gave me any number of answers,” he said dryly. “None of which told me a damned thing.”
She hid her smile at the edge in his voice. Tane was accustomed to striking fear into the hearts of everyone he encountered. It obviously pissed him off that he hadn’t managed to bully the information he wanted from the Sylvermyst.
“Do they work for my aunt?”
“So Ariyal claims.”<
br />
Ariyal. Laylah had only had a brief glance at the supposedly evil fey, but she’d been startled by his astonishing beauty.
Not that beauty meant a crap. Jinn were notorious for possessing the faces of angels and the malevolent hearts of the devil. Still she’d expected something … else. “You don’t believe him?”
Tane shrugged. “I believe he has his own reasons for wanting the child and he’s willing to use Marika to locate the babe.”
“Maluhia,” Laylah said softly.
“What?”
“I’ve named the baby,” she explained. “It means peace.”
Tane froze, doing a perfect imitation of a mannequin. “I know what it means. It’s a name of my ancestors,” he at last rasped. “Why?”
Laylah chewed her lip.
He looked like he’d just been hit with a baseball bat. So, was that a good or bad thing? “I told you I was going to give the child a name,” she hedged.
“Why that name?”
“I liked it.”
Without warning Laylah found herself lying flat on her back with a very large, very delicious vampire pinning her to the mattress.
Her bones melted at the feel of his hard body pressed on top of her, glad she’d taken the time to remove everything but her panties and bra before crawling into the bed.
Now if she could just get rid of his khaki shorts …
“Laylah, tell me why.”
She met the honey gaze, sensing her answer was somehow important.
“It reminded me of you.”
His fingers threaded through her hair. “No one could call me peaceful.”
“That is my wish for his future,” she said gently, “but my hope for him as a man is that he will possess a sense of honor, with the strength to protect those he loves, and loyalty to those he claims as his family.”
With a groan, Tane lowered his head to press a kiss to her forehead.
“You’re killing me.”
She frowned in confusion. “I thought …”
“What, my sweet?”
“I thought you would be pleased.”
He pulled back, revealing an aching vulnerability that made Laylah’s heart forget to beat.
“I’m humbled,” he whispered.
Reaching up, she framed his beautiful face in her hands. “Never.”
His fingers brushed through her hair and down the side of her throat, his thumb lingering at the pulse beating at the base.
“Laylah, you asked why the Oracle marked me.” She winced, lifting her hand to press it to the strange mark on his chest. “To punish you.” “No. It was to bind me to you.” Oh … gods.
Laylah shook her head in horrified disbelief. For such a proud, independent vampire it must have been torture to be forcibly bound to another.
“Why would they do such a thing?” she breathed.
He didn’t look horrified. In fact, there was something that resembled anticipation smoldering in his eyes.
“It doesn’t matter, I was already in your power.”
She narrowed her gaze in suspicion. She’d been a fool in London to think her magic was strong enough to control a vampire.
“I don’t believe you were ever in my supposed power.”
With a shift of his hips he managed to part her legs, settling between them with a wicked smile.
“I have become your slave, but it has nothing to do with Jinn magic and everything to do with pure female bewitchment.”
Heat curled through her body at the feel of his thick erection pressing against her inner thigh. Oh, it was so close to perfect. All she needed was a wiggle or two and she could have him settled exactly where he needed to be.
“Your slave, huh?” she husked.
“It’s the truth, my sweet.” He stroked his lips down her cheek, pausing to nibble at the corner of her mouth. Her arms instinctively circled his broad shoulders, skimming down his back. Pleasure hummed through her. Nice. She could spend hours exploring the hard muscles that rippled with encouragement beneath her touch. “With or without spells you’re a part of me,” he said, his voice thick with a fierce intensity.
She pulled back to study his somber expression with a searching gaze.
“What are you saying?”
“You’re already the mate of my soul. I want to make it official.”
Laylah’s mind shut down at the same time her heart went into overdrive, ricocheting around her ribs like a pinball.
“Mate?”
His lips twisted. “Are you shocked or horrified?” “I’m stunned,” she readily admitted. He frowned, as if puzzled by her reaction to his little stunner.
“Did you actually think I would chase after you for days, defy the Commission and my own Anasso by keeping you hidden, and risk my neck because I had nothing better to do?”
“But, I’m a Jinn mongrel,” she said, those words explaining everything.
Jinn mongrels didn’t mate.
End of story.
Or at least it should be.
Tane, however, seemed to be out of the loop as he flashed a smile filled with dangerous intent.
“I hate to disappoint you, my sweet, but I managed to figure that out all by myself.”
“I’m an outcast.”
“And I’m not?”
She made a sound of impatience. “I’m unstable.”
“You’re a female.” His smile widened. “It’s expected.”
“Jerk.” She curled a fist and hit his back with enough force to make him grunt. Dammit. Was he completely insane? Or was his fascination with her a part of his guilt-complex? She was, after all, the go-to gal for a vampire with a self-destructive urge. “You won’t think it’s so funny if I accidentally strike you with a bolt of lightning or collapse your lair into a pile of rubble.”
He captured her lips in a kiss that blazed through her, searing away her self-righteous impulse.
Making her toes curl in the process.
“So long as you are next to me it won’t matter,” he said against her lips.
She gave a tug on his mohawk. “You must know this is crazy.”
“Be my mate, Laylah,” he coaxed, his eyes glowing. “Say yes.” She should say no.
Had she forgotten the horrible accidents over the years? For God’s sake, she’d killed more than one demon when her powers had slipped her control.
Of course, it had only been in self-defense, a voice whispered in the back of her mind. And none of the demons were anywhere near as indestructible as a vampire.
And …
And she loved him.
The pure simplicity of her emotion brought an end to her inner dialogue. “Yes,” she said.
He groaned, pressing his forehead to hers. “Thank God.”
Laylah stroked the tense muscles of his neck, bracing herself for his strike. She wasn’t afraid. Excitement bubbled through her, as intoxicating as champagne. But, she’d had an up close and personal view of his fangs. It seemed impossible they wouldn’t at least sting.
Tane, however, caught her off guard, crushing her lips with slow, drugging kisses that had her arching in ready response. He tasted of wildfire. And sex. And power.
A lethal combination.
His hands skimmed down her body, removing her bra and panties with skillful ease, then returning for another intimate exploration that made her tremble with pleasure. He stroked the line of her shoulders, and down her collarbone. He cupped her breasts, his thumbs teasing her nipples to aching peaks. And all the while he kissed her with a deep urgency that made her blood race.
Desire swelled inside her, as well as something new.
A hunger to feel him at her throat, his fangs buried deep in her flesh.
Perhaps sensing she was too impatient for a marathon seduction, Tane lifted himself off her long enough to shed his shorts before returning to cover her, his mouth seeking the pointed tip of her breast.
He groaned in approval as her hands scraped down his back, digging into his hips with her n
ails.
Using his tongue and teeth, he tormented the swollen bud, his cock rubbing against her clit until she was ready to plead for release. He shifted his attention to her other breast, his hand sliding between them to slip a finger between her folds, finding the pinpoint of her desire with remarkable ease.
“Tane …” she choked.
“Yes, my sweet.”
“I need you.”
As if her words snapped the last thread of his composure, Tane gave a low growl and with one hard thrust was buried deep inside her.
Laylah gasped, feeling stretched to the very limit. Then, with a throaty moan she wrapped her legs around his hips in blatant appreciation.
“Mine,” he rasped, burying his face in the curve of her neck. “My mate.”
She quivered as his tongue ran a wet path down the line of her jugular, arching her head back to offer what he desired. Tane didn’t hesitate. With a harsh groan, he plunged his fangs through her skin, his hands holding her hips steady as she bucked from the pleasure slamming into her.
Gods.
She wrapped her arms around him, holding on tight as he began to pump his hips in rhythm that matched the sucking of her blood.
The combined sensations were …
Earth shattering.
Happily tossing herself into the maelstrom of bliss, Laylah met him stroke for stroke, rushing toward an orgasm even before he released a trickle of his power. She screamed as the tiny jolt of electricity threw them both over the edge and she exploded into a million pieces.
Lost in the shattering pleasure, she felt him withdraw his fangs and gently close the puncture wounds. She floated in a daze of paradise, already sensing the deepening connection between them.
He nuzzled a path of kisses toward the hollow beneath her ear, his hands stroking up the curve of her waist to cup her swollen breasts.
“Your turn,” he whispered.
Laylah readily threaded her fingers through his mohawk, excitement shimmering through her. She was no expert on vampire relationships, but she did know that the mating was only half complete. It was only after she took his blood that they would be truly bound together.
Not giving herself time to consider the pain she was bound to cause, she raised her head to sink her teeth deep into the flesh of his neck. She didn’t have fangs, but she was able to draw enough blood to trickle down her throat.
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