Death Be Rising (The Terra Vane Series Book 7)

by Katie Epstein

  “It’s about being connected to your mate,” I retorted. “It’s not a cage. And I don’t need more time. I’ve wanted you to claim me since our first time together, but I didn’t want to push you into anything you didn’t want to do. You know what you’re like. You don’t like commitment. You also like your freedom.”

  “Goddamn it, Terra. Not with you!” He stopped us among the cover of the trees well away from the others. “I want to claim you! Man and wolf. I’ve wanted nothing more from the minute I saw you at the damn academy. And whereas I pushed it down, told myself we were just friends, I now know it’s bullshit. I loved you from that first moment. No matter how much I tried to deny it. And over the years, I’ve craved you on a level I never understood. I’ve tried to make it work with others. I attempted to be with other women to get you out of my mind. But I couldn’t. You were like a fever to my soul, and I was stupid staying in the comfort zone of that. I should have told you sooner, before Cole, before all this IET burden. You would have had time then. Time to be certain!”

  I’d never seen Kaleb like this before. And to hear he wanted me during our time at the academy made me swallow hard. But I hate seeing him in pain. And I hated seeing him so frustrated by all this. But I also know Kaleb. Pandering to him while he’s in a mood never works.

  “This is what I want, you asshole,” I retorted. “And I don’t care about the ceremony. I care about being mated to you. And if it calms your wolf enough so you can operate out there with us without trying to bite someone’s head off, then I’m up for it. Why wait? And it might help, hadn’t it? Anya said something about sometimes there being a form of telepathic connection. Anything helps right now. And I don’t know about you, Kaleb, but I don’t see myself with anyone else. I could never be whole not having you in my life, so in that respect, you’re already my mate. Don’t think for me. Don’t decide for me. If you want to claim me, then damn well do it!”

  Breathing in deeply, he caressed my cheek. “You deserve better. I haven’t even given you a first date. I screwed up things with us getting together. I wanted it to be special. You deserve special.”

  I smiled. I couldn’t help it. “It will be special because it’s you and me. That’s all that matters. And come on. We don’t do normal or the expected. That wouldn’t be us. Would it?” I played dirty, tiptoeing and raising my lips to his ear. “I also plan to kick your butt when you’re better.”

  “Why?” His hands clutched my ass as his control slipped.

  “Libby told me all about your plan to make me jealous.”

  “Ah,” he replied, his breath tickling my skin. “Want to punish me a little?”

  “I intend to punish you a lot.” My tongue flicked out, tasting the skin on his neck.

  He growled. “Once I’ve claimed you, you’ll be mine. All mine.”

  “So do it already,” I demanded.

  The grass crunched as we moved deeper in the borough of trees on the outskirts. We were far enough no one could hear us—including Bernard and his sensitive hearing. No one could see us beneath the canopy of trees. And we weren’t at risk of someone wandering by since they’d evacuated the perimeter.

  Kaleb softly rubbed his thumb against my lips, his eyes taking me in. “I can’t believe we’re here. Doing this.”

  He dismantled me so easy with such a few words. My restraint crumbled. “Hurry.”

  He grinned, stepping back, and opening the sleeping bag to lay it on the ground. I removed my shirt and threw it down to make a pillow.

  “You’re cold,” he said, studying my body. The hunger that flared within him warmed me instantly.

  “Not anymore,” I whispered.

  His tongue flicked out to wet his lip, ready to devour. He removed his shirt, and threw it next to mine.

  “Come here,” he demanded, beckoning me with his fingers. I approached him.

  The second Kaleb pulled me into his arms, everything made sense.

  “Terra pain-in-the-ass Vane,” he said, a husk in his voice my body responded to without remorse. “Will you become my mate tonight, beneath the moon and the stars, upon the earth of the Mother?”

  I tried not to laugh, the nerves kicking in, swimming with the excitement and eagerness to be his. “Kaleb pain-in-the-ass-more Cipher, I will most definitely become your mate tonight, beneath the moon and the stars, upon the earth of the Mother.”

  He closed his eyes briefly, a placid smile on his lips. When his gaze caught mine once more, his irises shone gold. “Mine,” he growled, the back of his fingers grazing my cheek. He trailed them slowly down to my throat where his fingers splayed across my neck. He held his hand there, the possession and trust in such a claim passing between us. I gulped against his touch and he smiled. His hand lowered, lightly caressing the curve of my breast, falling to my stomach. He stroked. And I shuddered, my eyes on him as he watched his fingers, fascinated by the parts he touched.

  His lips caught mine, and I groaned with satisfaction.

  Finally.

  Eagerly, he unfastened my jeans, flipping the buttons open. He dropped light kisses on my face, one after the other, conjuring tingles of pleasure. One on my cheek. One on my jaw. My lips.

  “I’ll have you naked when I take you,” he whispered, removing my bra, hooking it on his finger. “Do you have a problem with that?”

  “No.”

  “Good.” He threw it down against the shirt. His eyes looked upon my breasts, ready to feast. I gasped when he touched them, needing the contact, needing him. We hadn’t slept together since the first occasion. Every time he’d tried to fondle and take more of late, his wolf had rose to the surface, trying to claim me, so he’d stopped. But not now.

  “Kaleb,” I whispered. The nipple he fondled fascinated him. He played with the other until it almost pained me to stand there and take it.

  “I can scent you from here,” he growled, “you’re ready for me.”

  “I am,” I told him, needing to touch him. But when I did so, he caught my wrist.

  “Oh no. Not yet. I’m nowhere near done with you yet.”

  Falling to his knees, he removed the radio from my pocket and threw it the ground. He grabbed the top of my jeans and pulled them down, his eyes squeezed tight. He sniffed the air.

  “I can’t wait to taste you.”

  His warm tongue licked my skin. I swallowed hard. He removed my boots, my underwear, and his tongue followed, soft licks pushing me closer and closer to the edge of control. My knees buckled. And the love for him blended with pure unadulterated need.

  He caught me, lowering me to the floor. “Let me get naked for you, baby,” he whispered, an edge to his voice. The animal inside him fought to share supremacy while he removed his clothing. Before I knew it, Kaleb’s sleek, muscled—and thankfully, human—body leaned over me, naked, him hard and pulsing. I gripped onto his shoulders.

  “Kiss me,” I pleaded.

  “With pleasure.”

  He took hold of my knees, a smirk on his lips. “You didn’t say where.”

  His headed escaped in between my legs. I caught the scream on the edge of my throat.

  “Get up here, now,” I ordered the second I got close. I didn’t want to reach the point of no return this way. Maybe later—a girl has needs—but not now. I needed him inside me, I needed him, Kaleb, my guy, my mate, inside me. I needed the closeness, the connection.

  He chuckled, happy to oblige. But as he leaned over me, his hardness poised at my entrance, his face turned serious. Love swarmed in his eyes. “Be my mate,” he whispered. I nodded, my fingers tips digging into his muscles.

  “I’ll be your mate.”

  He groaned, and kissed me—no, he devoured me—his lips crashing against mine like a wolf starved. I kept up with him, wrapped up in the realms of Kaleb. His fingers fed into my hair. He entered me, slow, and I gasped.

  “Holy shit.” My eyes widened, loving the sense of him. But it stoked something inside me that showed him everything—all my vulnerabilities ex
posed. I trusted him with every part of my being. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” he said, guttural, pushing inside. “But I have to bite you to claim you. You know that, don’t you?”

  “Yes. Yes, I don’t care. Do it.”

  “It will hurt.”

  I moaned, needing a faster pace, but he kept it slow, taunting and teasing, and oh so freaking beautiful. “I don’t care,” I told him through gritted teeth.

  “My saliva will heal you once it’s done.”

  “Do it, Kaleb.”

  “Trust me.”

  “Always.”

  Nudging my hair away with his nose, I heard a crunch when he part-shifted his fangs into that of his wolf. He remained careful not to show them to me, his lips softly stroking against my neck. He entered me again, at the same time his fangs pierced my skin. The intensity burned as it craved a release. Tears fell from my eyes as the pressure became too much from the bite. But then something changed. The pleasure rose to meet the pain and obliterated it.

  So much happened at once.

  The magic from his bite, from the connection, reared up so fast, sick of waiting on the sidelines, I cried out.

  Fireworks exploded in my head, visions, one after the other, after the other, hitting my mind.

  Images swam, and in desperation I caught hold of one.

  A younger Kaleb at the academy appeared, seeing me for the first time. He sensed how broken I was, even after I’d begun healing from my time in the hospital. Curiosity squashed his pity while he watched me speak to someone about classes. I sensed the shift in him the day I gave him the finger when he and his friends sought me out to say ‘hello.’ He often bumped into me after that, trying to get to know me. I sensed the happiness he felt when I let him in, bit by bit. But then the images spun once more.

  I saw him punch a locker, sensing the pain inside, the rage at me being hurt at his hand. We’d fought in the ring, and he’d lost control of his wolf. I heard his wolf whine in his head with apology, not knowing who he’d fought.

  Kaleb pushed it aside, wanting to run, to flee into night at the memories of my blood on his hands. But deep down he realized he couldn’t have left me if he tried. Instead, he marched to the infirmary and sought me out. I saw an image of myself, getting up from the bed, pride flaring in my eyes to stand off with him. Conflict soared through his blood; one where he wanted to wrap me in his arms, pleading with me to heal. And the other wanting to shout at me for not leaving the ring, for goading his wolf instead of running.

  He shouted at me then; the rage pouring out of him. But I saw and felt everything from his point of view.

  After that, the images switched to him training with me to help me get through the academy. He’d neglected his own studies to help me, and train me, scraping through from when we’d studied together. But through his visions—the words of his brother, his professors—I saw then he would have smashed his grades if he hadn’t used most of his spare time to get my ass up to par.

  Disbelief brought emotion to my throat as I became lost in him. His past interwoven with mine.

  A reel of visions came flying one after the other.

  Me. Lying on the bed. Injured after being attacked by the rogue shifter. I felt a tear roll down Kaleb’s cheek, watching from his perspective as he held my hand while I lay unconscious. I heard his words when Mayra left the room, how he couldn’t do this without me, how he couldn’t imagine a world without me in it.

  Then the images swirled, and they showed me the night in the Fey Lands when I’d confessed about my past. Kaleb had taken the leap that night, intending to kiss me, to confess his feelings. He suppressed the hurt and frustration when our guide, Govad Terrell had intervened.

  The replay of our lives swept me along. And I almost burned from his response to the kiss we shared when I became ensnared in the incubus magic. Kaleb had tried to pull away, but couldn’t help himself. Everything in him settled when he kissed me back.

  I gasped as our connection deepened. But then the next lot of images brought an agonizing pain to my chest.

  Kaleb with Libby.

  They were kissing on her bed, things getting heated. I felt sick. I willed the image to disappear—for the vision to throw me out and move on to something else. But then Kaleb pulled away, holding Libby back with a panicked look in his eyes. “I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”

  Libby, her face devastated at such a reaction, asked, “Why?”

  “Because you’re not her,” he whispered.

  My heart broke for them both at that declaration. Him for loving me so much from the sidelines. And her for seeing the truth in his words. But he’d stayed with her all night, the clock hands spinning at high speed to show me for how long. They chatted, and even though I couldn’t hear what was being said, I saw a weight rise off of Libby. He became a friend to her that night.

  I heard their plan. Libby coming up with the idea for them to feign a relationship and make me jealous. She’d gone on to say that maybe the stubborn bitch—that being me—might step up and realize her feelings.

  Kaleb faltered, wanting to pass over on the idea. But the fear of losing me had him agreeing to it. I experienced his regret from such a decision when he saw me hurting from seeing him and Libby together. And I witnessed the many times he’d wanted to confess, tell me the truth, that there was nothing between them. He’d tried to tell me the truth in his own way, and the elation of him not being with her eased my aching soul.

  Another vision came, one that had me sobbing, I couldn’t help it.

  His love for me.

  I felt it. I witnessed, in that moment, how he saw me, and it took my breath away.

  “Terra,” I heard Kaleb whisper, the pain gone as I let my love for him shine. “I feel it.”

  “You feel my love for you, too?” I said through my tears. Kaleb’s face shimmered into view as the remnants of images disappeared.

  “Feel it?” he said breathlessly. “Baby, I’m drowning in it.” He wiped the tears from my cheek. “My mate.”

  “I am?” I stammered. “It’s done.”

  “Oh, it’s almost done.” He urged forward inside me still, igniting everything else to a fever pitch of sensation I’d never experienced before in my life. I held on, meeting him every thrust of the way.

  “Kaleb,” I growled out, a floodgate opening as our energies melded. “Something’s happening.”

  “The matings done,” he said, confused, “I think this part’s on you.”

  My energy floated as the love for him pulsed in a burst of stars. I found myself in the white room I conjured each time I connected to another person’s energy. Kaleb shimmered before me, looking around.

  “Where are we?” he asked in awe. The shape of him shone with a beautiful pink aura. I laughed at the magnificence of it, of looking upon his essence, his energy, all my trust, my secrets, safe with him.

  “This happens to me when I connect to a person’s energy,” I explained, a floaty feeling encouraging me to hold his hand. “We’d better not stay here long.”

  “Look at you.” He smiled, looking down upon me with awe. “You’re beautiful. You glow. Your cheeks, your hair, your eyes. Terra…” he swallowed. “You’re breathtaking.”

  Damn, he could hit me in the feels. The ground rumbled between us. The energy begging for me to do something. “I need to return.”

  “Not yet,” he said, leaning down to kiss me. And that’s when it happened. Both of us reached a peak of pleasure as both our bodies and energies joined as one. I felt his pleasure, his sensation, his feelings, and he felt mine. For a second, I gained a glimpse at a higher knowing. One that hovered so close to us all daily, something we couldn’t quite reach, enveloping us both in its embrace.

  Opening my eyes, we both returned to our physical bodies, and Kaleb moaned as he thrust inside me. I wrapped my legs around him, our bodies escalating in pleasure. He became lost, kissing me, my mouth, my neck, pushing deeper inside.

  A ra
wness erupted from him, throwing us toward the brink of control. His eyes flashed amber, and his fangs elongated. He howled.

  I held onto his arms, needing my anchor, and then it struck. The feeling came so hard; the orgasm ripped through me. I clenched around him, tight and unforgiving, and it pushed him over the edge.

  “Mine!” he growled, thrusting harder and faster. He gripped my hips and fell hard, pulling me close to finish the ride with him. “Goddamn,” he whispered, tumbling over the edge.

  Hypnotized by my mate, I watched as his eyes shifted to blue, and his fangs retreated back to their human size. He caught my eye and smiled lazily, leaning forth to kiss me, soft and slow. Reluctantly, he drew back, lowering his forehead against mine. And breathless, we both lay there, experiencing the ripple of contentment from the claiming.

  Some time later, he rolled off me, pulling me close to lie on his chest. I lay there, the scent of pine tickling my nose alongside Kaleb. I knew then I was complete. I’d found a piece of my soul, and it settled inside my heart.

  ‘You’re not leaving my side. Ever.’ He told me.

  I chuckled at his words. “I have to leave sometime, you know. Like when I need to pee. Or have a night out with the girls, or—”

  “Terra,” the wariness of his tone made me look up at him. 

  “What’s up?”

  “I didn’t say that out loud.”

  “Say what?”

  “About you never leaving my side. I never said it out loud.”

  “Oh shit,” I whispered.

  ‘Can you hear me now?’

  “Yes,” my eyes widened, “your lips didn’t move.”

  “I know.”

  “Oh, man.” I panicked about my thoughts no longer being my own. Anya said this could happen, but it was different in theory. “Can you hear mine?”

  He laughed at the fear on my face. “I don’t think it works like that.”

  “It doesn’t?”

  “No. When it’s happened between mates before, it’s because they push a direct thought through rather than listening in on everything.”

  “Then why think about me never leaving your side instead of saying it?”