Dark Surrender

by Rachel Van Dyken

  It shouldn’t be beautiful.

  It was.

  When I finally found the strength to look down and notice my own nakedness, I gasped and looked around, the room was empty.

  It was just us.

  On a kitchen table.

  Yeah, completely normal.

  “Do not die,” he whispered before kissing me again.

  I had a really bad feeling about what was about to happen next.

  “And,” I croaked when I found my voice. “If I do?”

  He pulled away his red eyes blinking slowly before he answered in a hoarse voice. “Then all is lost.”

  Alex

  THE RIVER WAS dripping red.

  With blood.

  Blood I’d spilled.

  I let out a guttural cry as I fell to my feet and then I saw her. Hope. Across the river, she was laughing, smiling.

  I reached out to her only to find that my hand wouldn’t move.

  I yelled for her.

  My mouth remained closed and even as my breathing slowed, I found I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

  She was perfection.

  From the wide curve of her hips to the edges of her fingertips. I wanted to lick every inch of her.

  I was at peace.

  Simply watching.

  Peace had never come without sex.

  Satisfaction was a not a thing I was accustomed to unless I was joined with another human being physically.

  It was nice.

  I felt warm.

  And then too warm as darkness started to spread like a cloud across the field she was standing in.

  And then, I saw him.

  White hair with strips of red, a sword in hand, bleeding armor of black, caked in purple immortal blood.

  Bannik.

  His smile was cruel as he approached her.

  Demeanor changed, he looked like an angel, like an original, he looked as he did before he and his brothers fell from the mountains.

  And I hated him for his perfection.

  For his beauty.

  Beauty that only the angelic race could possess.

  Beauty I would never have.

  And for the first time in my existence, I was jealous as he reached for her hand and kissed it.

  “NO!” I screamed, my lips finally moving but no sound came.

  Hope dropped her hand and took a step back as he took a step forward.

  He would not have her.

  He would not touch her.

  I would kill him.

  I would kill all of them.

  Every last one.

  I would both start a war and end it.

  I would destroy the planet and everyone in it — if he took what was mine.

  My body shook with a need for war.

  It started in my hands as my blood shook, boiling to the surface, and then I remembered what happened the last time I felt this way.

  Death.

  My fault.

  They had all died.

  With a roar, I fell to my knees.

  And then opened my eyes to Hope.

  All I saw was her.

  My thirst — was for her.

  There was no hunger, only a thirst that I knew she could quench, a desperate need to have her.

  We had somehow created a mental bond.

  The physical had to follow, or we would both die.

  “You must reach your full potential.” A familiar voice beckoned.

  And if what I’d just seen was prophecy, Bannik would succeed. If I did not take her.

  He would.

  And just like history repeating itself — a child of the elves would die.

  She would die.

  The room faded away as I reached for her and mindlessly pulled every inch of clothing from her glorious body. She felt so hot.

  Comforting.

  She felt perfect.

  I fought the urge to claim her without permission — the last thing I needed was her heart stopping.

  I’d seen it happen.

  Pleasure had the potential to kill — it was why sirens were considered so deadly to humans.

  You could die of good.

  Just like you could die from the bad.

  Odd, how anything in extremes could be your utter destruction.

  I held back.

  And kissed her.

  Then wished someone would have warned me how it would feel — the mating — the claiming.

  Then again, if Cassius had warned me, would I have believed him anyway? Waves of pleasure assaulted me until I couldn’t see straight, until there were ten of her, and greedily I wanted all ten of the visions in front of me, I wanted to give endless orgasms, plunder until I was unconscious, until all anyone smelled on her was me.

  “Do not die,” I begged, not recognizing the dark pleading in my own voice.

  “And if I do?”

  “Then all is lost.” I answered before claiming her lips again, tasting the salt of the earth on her tongue as her fingers dug into my biceps.

  I distracted her with my kisses, numbing her to the fact that within minutes her life would never be the same.

  With each kiss, I drew more and more of her memories into my consciousness.

  Her lonely childhood.

  Her adoptive parents.

  Each with small tattoos on the inside of their wrists.

  Each with light blue-green eyes.

  I kissed deeper.

  Harder.

  “Teach her,” they begged.

  “Love her,” they whispered.

  “She is yours,” they exhaled.

  And like dust disappeared.

  Orphaning her.

  A deep sense of loneliness filled my body as I shook for more of her memories, only this time it was as if I was blocked — I searched, prodded, and was met with only darkness, like she’d been sleeping for years, only to just now awaken.

  Hope shifted in my arms, trying to move closer, her eyes wild with lust. It had never bothered me before. The lust.

  I brought it out of everyone.

  But for the first time in my life.

  I craved more than that.

  I craved her love.

  Something I had been without — for as long as I could remember.

  The memory of my mother’s words haunted me in that moment, the stab of pain as she drove the knife into my back — as my own father looked at me as an abomination and cruelly smiled when I fell to the floor covered in immortal blood.

  “Alex,” Hope gripped my face with both of her hands.

  My breath came out in heavy rasps, like I was choking on my own memories and couldn’t focus on anything except for the terror of never being wanted.

  Or loved.

  Or cared for.

  And then there was Hope.

  She kissed me softly then.

  On the corner of my mouth.

  I ran my tongue over the spot where her lips had touched and was met with the salt of her tears.

  She was crying.

  No.

  I reached up and touched my cheeks.

  Those tears were mine.

  “It’s okay.” The weak elf calmed me. The weak human spoke peace into existence, and I felt it wrap its arms around me, grounding me.

  “This must happen.” I whispered. “It cannot be stopped.”

  “Do you see me stopping it?” She countered in a brave tone.

  “No.” My lips twitched as I reached for the front of my leather pants and tugged them free. “At least not yet.”

  Her eyes widened a fraction before she lifted her head and said in a shaky voice. “I’m not afraid.”

  “Yes, you are.”

  “Yes, I am,” she echoed. “Death by orgasm wasn’t really on the plan for today.”

  “Believe me when I say…” I stole a kiss and then another. “It would be a good way to go.”

  “Says the one who’s living.”

  “Silly elf.” I gripped her chin with my thumb and forefinger. “It
is called the little death — both people die — let’s just hope that once you find your pleasure, it isn’t so overwhelming your heart stops.”

  She gulped. “Will the heat get worse?”

  “It will always get worse until you find what you need.”

  “And what do I need?” Her heart hammered in her chest. I could hear it soaring to new heights as she leaned into me.

  “I thought that should be obvious.” I thrust my hips against hers. “You need me.”

  I didn’t give her time to think before I thrust into her, holding her body in place, allowing each sensation to build across her body in small manageable waves before the pleasure built once again.

  “What’s—?” She squirmed and then relaxed before her body went completely rigid, her eyes widened and then she whispered. “Is that all?”

  Uncontrollable laughter bubbled out of me. “I ripped off the band-aid.”

  “Am I the band-aid?”

  “Go ahead….” I challenged her, arching my eyebrows with amusement. “Move.”

  She frowned.

  I gripped her hips and blew across her lips knowing it would cool her down a fraction before the heat built up again between us. She had no choice but to move.

  She flinched.

  It was enough.

  Her entire body exploded around me like a rainbow bursting through the kitchen, and then she moved again.

  I gave her everything, allowing her to experience me without me forcing her, but when she slid her body against me a third time, I knew I couldn’t stay frozen.

  Because a siren could only allow someone to take their pleasure for so long before they have to reciprocate.

  It would be a pity if she died.

  Because I liked her.

  Too much.

  More than I should.

  I love you!

  Don’t leave me! Don’t go to her!

  The familiar voice screamed at me only to stop the minute Hope collapsed against my shoulder.

  She panted against my shoulder as she experienced another release, and then I whispered with a wicked grin. “My turn.”

  Hope

  HIS EYES BLAZED red as he lifted me slowly into his arms. I opened my mouth to speak, but jolts of pleasure rocked through me, stealing my words. I couldn’t stop those intoxicating zaps even if I wanted to; it was like every time I moved, I was shocked.

  He was right.

  It would be a good way to go.

  I’d never felt anything like it before.

  How was it possible to feel so much? To be so sated yet greedy for more of him?

  His overly long hair seemed to grow before my very eyes into something out of a fairy tale as rainbow colored strands entwined with one another and then went completely black as night. His eyes went from red to an icy blue that filled the entire expanse of his eyes.

  His skin appeared as though kissed by the sun, the smell of rain attacked my senses. And then he spoke.

  “You will belong to no one else.” His voice was as commanding as it was heavy, as though the weight of his words had settled across my body pushing me like gravity into the table.

  I couldn’t shake the familiarity of his words, the way they burned into my soul like I’d been waiting for them for thousands of years.

  Alex’s eyes locked onto mine. “Say yes.”

  It was the fighter in me — that demanded I say no. That said he should at least say please.

  But I was too overwhelmed to do anything but nod as his head tilted to the side in a predatory movement that had me wondering if he was more animal than man.

  My answer came when he quite literally leaped into the air, pulling me with him before literally sucking the life out of me with his kiss.

  He drank me.

  This wasn’t kissing.

  It felt like he was devouring my soul, my entire body clenched as his lips molded around mine, sucking, plundering as his tongue flicked, as he sucked until I thought I was going to pass out.

  Air left my lungs.

  And then Alex exhaled into me, as if he was bringing me back to life, and at that moment, he thrust into me again. Another breath, another thrust, until he filled me with each exhale. Like he’d stolen my soul and was giving me his.

  A loud crack sounded as he slammed his hand against the wall by my head, and then I was in his arms as pieces of dust fell across my cheeks.

  “Mine.” He exhaled a kiss. “Say. It.”

  I couldn’t breathe, so I nodded as tears streamed down my face. It was perfect. I could feel him everywhere, inside my head, my body, my thoughts. The taste of his air was different.

  “Breathe,” he commanded, pulling back just slightly as a piece of charcoal hair kissed his chin. “In and out.”

  My vision blurred as I tried to inhale and when I did, the air tasted wet, like a sweet honey-infused sweat.

  “Yours,” I finally choked out.

  “And now we begin.” He smirked.

  “What?” Panic flooded my body. “I thought we were already…” I mean we were literally in the middle of sex against a wall and—

  He kissed my neck once, twice, his lips brushing down to my collarbone before he thrust one more time.

  My world exploded into tiny fragments before my very eyes as my body tried to rationalize the way he was making me feel, the pleasure that was pulsating through my veins.

  And just when I was able to finally breathe again.

  I lost all vision.

  And consciousness.

  Mason

  “RELAX.” CASSIUS SAID again with a flick of his wrist as Stephanie moved her chess piece. “Things are going as planned.”

  “Planned?” The hell! I stood and paced in front of the fireplace. “I heard the wall crack! He’s going to kill her!”

  “Alex has only killed a sexual partner three times in his entire existence.” Stephanie said in a bored tone. “And he was young.”

  “That doesn’t make me feel better,” I grumbled. For some reason, I felt protective of the little thing. She was a curvy little spitfire who would most likely fight him at every turn, and the mating process — it needed two minds to willingly join both physically and spiritually.

  I gulped as a spasm of pain sliced through my chest.

  I placed my hand over the spot that hurt and rubbed.

  It always hurt.

  Because of her.

  It would hurt for an eternity — until we were re-joined in the afterlife… that was if the heavens allowed us to be together. It wasn’t as if we were doing a good job of keeping evil at bay — I glanced around the room at the ragtag team.

  The Immortal Council was strong.

  Ethan had Genesis and their twins, who were growing before my very eyes. Cassius was an archangel and had his Stephanie.

  And now what? Alex had Hope.

  But did he truly have her?

  Besides, she was royalty. She was special. The only elf who could not die through childbirth. And he, the most powerful siren, yeah that was going to work out just great! The guy literally had the power to kill by orgasm.

  I let out a frustrated growl as a scream of pain erupted from the kitchen. My knuckles burned with the need to fight. My beast roared for me to transform and take that siren’s head off.

  I’d been alive for hundreds of years.

  And it wasn’t until recently that I had trouble controlling my temper.

  My urges.

  I blinked back the anger, the pain, the need to attack, and tried to take a deep breath.

  “It grows within.” Cassius suddenly said at my side. Seconds ago, he had been playing chess and now he was annoyingly poking around in my head.

  “Go to Hell,” I grumbled running a rough hand over my face. When was the last time I ate? Maybe that was it. I needed to feed.

  “On something more than a berry, perhaps?” Cassius suggested in that ridiculously arrogant tone of his.

  “Don’t make me kill you, Angel.”

&n
bsp; “I would pay to see that fight.” Ethan smirked from across the room as he sipped a cup of blood, his eyes flashing green.

  “She could die,” I said again. Maybe if I kept saying it, they would take me more seriously. “We need them to mate. And she is afraid of him!”

  “She’s afraid of all of us.” Genesis’s soft voice was the only one able to bring me comfort. Her hand slid into mine as she laid her head on me, her weight settling nicely against my body. I craved her warmth, but not as much as I craved her friendship. “It’s a normal reaction.”

  “Normal.” I repeated with a snort. “None of us are normal.”

  “Humans are the weird ones,” Stephanie agreed.

  “Humans are the chosen ones,” Cassius corrected.

  “They cannot even feed themselves!” I argued, raising my voice. “If you asked a human to hunt a lion, they would become dinner!”

  “Hunt many lions in your day?” Ethan piped up, and suddenly all of my family surrounded me like I was about ready to break through the window and go completely savage like those zoo animals in that silly Disney movie Genesis forced me to watch.

  “What?” I blinked at each of them. Ethan stood protectively in front of the hall leading to the kitchen while Cassius braced my shoulder with his heavy-as-hell hand.

  “Control yourself,” Ethan warned. “Your hunger grows.”

  “Fine!” I threw my hands in the air. “I will eat when they are done… coupling.”

  Genesis snorted out a laugh.

  “Not that hunger.” Ethan seemed amused.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Your sexual hunger.” Ethan’s smile was so wide I wanted to punch his teeth out then slam his face into the glass coffee table. “You can smell their lust — it is awakening your own need to mate.”

  “So you’re saying…” I clenched my fist. “That in a messed up way, Alex is turning me on?”

  Cassius shook next to me.

  I turned slightly.

  The bastard was laughing!

  He never laughed!

  “I’m killing all of you,” I muttered. “Fair warning.”

  “Get laid, Wolf.” Ethan winked. “Until then, maybe stay away from the Siren’s scent.”

  The warning left a sour taste in my mouth, and I recoiled with a grimace. “I don’t want Alex.”

  “To be fair…” Cassius shrugged. “Even the houseplant leans with all of its might toward the kitchen. Nature cannot help itself, and it seems… neither can you. Go for a nice long walk, maybe jump in a river.”