Distasteful as torture was, all Jael had to do was imagine what the Jackal had done to his family, his entire village — what Haestratos would have done to Sululu to summon the determination to continue.
The break gave the mage time to recover his defiance. It took another hundred and fifty cuts to wring more information out of the mage, and perhaps suggested the Snake Mage feared the Vulture and Rat more than the Wolf.
Haestratos glared through a trickle of blood from a cut to his forehead. “The twins feed on hunger and death magics.”
The Vulture and the Rat. “Where do they go?” When he received only silence, Jael carved a long, winding cut down the mage’s leg. “Where?”
“Diutisciu!” Haestratos shouted. “The Rat goes to Diutisciu.” He sagged against the wall. “I swear I don’t know where the Vulture goes. None of us do. That’s information we might even pay for.”
Jael patted Haestratos on the cheek with the flat of one blade. “You see? I knew you just needed some encouragement. Now, tell me about the Jackal.”
“You’ll get nothing else from me.”
“No?” Jael spun his blades in his hands. “What do you think, Xenos? Should I stop cutting? Maybe start cutting things off instead?”
Xenos leaned against one wall in an indolent posture, seemingly not bothered by torture. “I can think of a few things he won’t need anymore.”
“Maybe he’s afraid of the Jackal.”
“Maybe you should be. You don’t know what he is capable of.”
Nearly a hundred cuts more finally earned Jael the answers he wanted most of all.
“Anubis feeds on resurrection magic.” Haestratos’ words came out in a whisper, all contempt gone.
Anubis. Now going by Ubus. The Jackal Mage. The one responsible for the death of Jael’s family.
“Where is the Jackal now?” Jael sliced his swords across the mage’s forearms. “Where?”
“Kemet! The Jackal always returns to Kemet.” Haestratos broke, and wept.
There were other mages. The Eel. The Spider. The Scorpion. The Beetle. The Leopard. The Crocodile. The Lizard. The First. But Haestratos couldn’t take anymore questioning right now. Even small, shallow cuts added up to serious damage after a while. “Three hundred and forty-six. That's a new record.”
“You are a scourge, vampire. We will eradicate you.” The Snake Mage tried to sneer, but it took effort and looked sad rather than haughty. “You caught us for now, but you can’t stop us.” He inclined his head toward Xenos. “Ask your friend. He can’t stop us. His father couldn’t stop us. His mother...” Haestratos licked his lips. “His mother —”
Xenos’ fist moved so fast, Jael missed it until the mage’s nose crunched. The Nymph leaned in close. “It's no secret I inherited my father’s temper. You’re hoping to provoke me so I’ll kill you and your magic goes free.” He sent two jabs into Haestratos’ chest. A rib cracked on each side, drawing out a gurgling scream. “My father taught me how to inflict pain.”
Removing a vial from his pocket, Xenos uncapped it, used his free hand to force Haestratos’ mouth open, and tipped a drop of green liquid onto the mage’s tongue. Bones grated as they reset. All the cuts Jael had carved into the mage’s flesh healed.
Hair lifting and weaving in agitated coils, Xenos bared his fangs. “Unfortunately for you, my mother taught me mercy.”
Leaving the Snake Mage in the capable hands of Xenos, Jael began his journey to Kemet.
CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN
VIKTORIA
PRESENT DAY
Viktoria returned to the present, coming face to face with her black-eyed, twin scimitar wielding assassin. He stared back at her. Neither of them moved.
So. That was what Memory had been up to. She must have recognized Lurky when she touched him after the fight with the spiders. Why show Viktoria the memories now, though? Memory was so adamant about the deal, and this was a distraction. Maybe her ever practical sister had a bit of romantic in her after all.
Mother had made them forget. And that horrifying experience was why she kept such restrictions on her daughters. It wasn’t to stifle them — only protection gone a bit too far.
The new knowledge didn’t negate the deal, though. If anything, it reinforced the necessity of the Pohjola Maidens needing to take care of themselves.
Black eyes and twin curved swords had always haunted her. Now she knew why.
And Louhi liked Lurky. Appreciated that he’d tracked down the men who’d hurt her daughter and killed them all.
Was that what the Goddess of Witchcraft and Death wanted in the men she’d allow to be with her daughters? She must be terribly disappointed in the prospects who ventured into Pohjola. Lemming, as Mother liked to call him, hadn’t been able to retrieve a feather without getting killed.
Lurky had only grown more deadly over the years. Would that make him good enough in her mother's eyes in the present time?
Reliving all those memories brought up the physical reactions again. The erection pressing against her thigh said the recollections had the same effect on him.
Now neither one of them was bound. There weren’t any bars between them.
She thought her hero was human and died. With the memory so fresh in her mind, that grief and devastation tore at her.
But here he was again. A second chance.
The deal still hung over her head. But for one night, she wouldn’t let that stop her.
Viktoria pulled a blanket of shadow over them and closed the slight distance between them.
CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT
JAEL
JAEL KISSED HER AGAIN, taking her mouth. Slowly. Deeply.
“You don’t need to tie me up again. I can control myself.” He hoped he sounded more sure of that than he felt. Her skin glowed in the moonlight tempting his hands and mouth.
“You can’t complain about being bound in my shadows. If you just remembered the same things I did, clearly I owed you one.”
“I didn’t have a way to free you then.”
She smelled of vanilla, the scent growing warmer.
Jael nipped at her lips, then moved to the soft, exposed skin of her neck. Not now, but soon he would mark her as his. She moaned into his mouth and blood rushed to his cock. No way could she miss the way his erection pressed into her belly. The sounds she made as he nipped and kissed his way down her neck to where her shirt began drove him crazy.
He fisted handfuls of her pajama top, thoughts of ripping it off crossing his mind, but Viktoria laughed. Her pajamas turned to shadow, impossible to rip.
“Off.” Jael growled deep in his chest, pulling at one shoulder. It didn’t come loose, and he couldn’t see how to remove it. He pulled it down her arms, freeing her beautiful, full breasts. Her nipples were pink and erect and begging for his mouth. His stomach tightened, like someone had landed a well-aimed fist to his mid-section.
His Viktoria was a gift from Fate. More than he could have ever imagined. Energy surged through his veins, a rush not unlike what he felt during battle. This woman could become his new home.
She put her hands into his hair as he licked and sucked and worshiped her breasts. The little gasps, moans, and the way her fingertips traced over his face and ear and neck drove him crazy. She drew circles on his arm, following the lines of his scars and muscles.
The way she touched him... so soft, but inquisitive. Curious. It drove the lust inside of him even higher. His heart hammered in his chest. His cock throbbed with the overwhelming need to sink deep into his Dragă. To claim her as his own. He’d never known such desire. Not in all his years. Not with any woman. His Dragă was different. Her soul was his alone. Fate had chosen her to glow just for him. It was a gift and a promise he could no longer ignore.
Viktoria made soft noises of satisfaction as he kissed his way past her hipbones and down to her thighs. Though his hands passed achingly lightly between her legs, his mouth never went close. Her body arched against his touch, but he teased her mercile
ssly. Once or twice, he pressed the base of his palm against her dampening flesh, but drew it away.
“You need me?” he asked, his voice hushed.
She didn't answer, and he glanced up to see her fallen expression. Was this some word game? Selene had seen a clear distinction. Viktoria had said several times she didn't need him, but had she ever said she didn't want him? Was there such a huge distinction for her? “You want me?”
She offered him a dazzling smile. “Yes.”
He spread her legs wider with his hands, and kissed his way up her thigh to the sensitive flesh there, and at the touch of his tongue, she arched toward him.
Perhaps finding his Dragă now was Fate’s way of telling him he shouldn’t desire vengeance. His vow still stood. He would seek his family’s justice, but he’d keep Viktoria safe and close as well. The light emanating from her pale skin illuminated the shadows. Jael growled, wrapping his hands around her body, lifting her from the blanket.
Jael leaned down to kiss her bare stomach, and then trailed kisses up her ribcage, to where her breasts waited for more attention. Her pink nipples were hard. He cupped both in his hands, loving the way they fit perfectly in his palms. He thumbed over her nipples.
Felt the way the magic pulled them together.
He slid two fingers inside her slick, wet warmth, exploring. In and out. Slowly, then faster, mimicking how he’d fill her with his cock very soon. Jael curled his fingers inside her, loving the feel of each shudder and clench of her thighs.
He parted her legs and brushed his lips across the lips of her sex.
The muscles of her thighs tightened and tensed as he stroked her most tender flesh.
VIKTORIA
“LURKY!” THERE WAS A chance that he would simply tease her forever, leaving her a shivering, shuddering wreck after she’d bound him last night. Then suddenly he shifted down, moving his body until his head was pillowed against her thigh. There was something strangely sacred about the moment.
Jael parted her damp folds and licked, drawing his tongue slowly over her swollen clit. Lurky continued to lash her with his tongue, holding her in place with one arm across her hips, stopping her from wriggling away.
The heat rolling through her intensified with every stroke of his tongue on her clit and every teasing fingertip down at her wet entrance below. There was something ravenous about the way he laid his mouth to her, as if he wanted to eat her whole. She tried to focus on him and what he was doing, but the waves of pleasure that washed over her were far too strong. She shuddered, her belly lurching as he pushed higher and higher, harder and harder. “Lurky...” she cried, and he laughed.
He stilled his fingers as her body tightened around them. Then took her clit into his mouth and gave her what she needed. She bucked off the blanket beneath his hold as she came.
His mouth moved against her flesh again, working her hard and leaving no room for anything like words or doubts. She couldn't leave her hands down at her sides. Instead, they came up to bury themselves in his hair.
Jael flicked his tongue over her clit again, moving his free hand to her breast where he pinched and rolled her nipples just enough to make her moan. Her body tightened again. She panted and gasped.
Torn between wanting to try to get away from the intensity and wanting more of it, all she could do was shudder under his touch. Her body wound tighter and tighter until all at once ripples of sensation started to tear through her. Each one was more powerful than the last.
She writhed, held only to earth by his powerful hands on her hips, and then she convulsed wildly, the pleasure simply too great to be constrained by her frame. The pleasure that coursed through her was so intense that she could barely process it. The orgasm rose, pulling her to the very top.
There was something beautiful and primal at work. Her climax was still pulsing through her body, making her shiver, when he rose over her. He blocked out the faint light from the fire, from the stars above, and for a moment, she thought of gods come out of the jungle, ready to take what was his.
JAEL
HIS COCK WAS LONG AND hard, and he wanted nothing more than to drive it deep into her right in that moment. His tip dragged along the velvety smooth skin of her hip. Her fingers dug into the meat of his arms and she arched up, thrusting her hips closer.
Jael nudged her opening with his cock, pressing forward just a little. A little more. Then a little more. Her body, right and needy, stilled as she stretched to accommodate his girth. The fire in her eyes locked with his as he pushed further. Her mouth opened in an “O” that turned to a moan. She quivered next, anticipation building from within. Her eyes, a darker blue, widened as he sank deeper, slowly, inch by inch, until he was seated all the way to the base.
Her skin glowed and glistened. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. She was his. His hips rolled into hers and she groaned, digging her fingernails into his biceps. He slid out, nearly all the way, before pushing in again. It was like he’d found what had been missing his whole life.
A sheen of sweat had broken out across her brow, cheeks, and torso. The slight salty taste only added to her perfect flavor on his tongue. He sampled her other breast, and she cried out again.
Her blue eyes, darkened with lust, locked with his gaze as he drove into her harder than before. He relished the way her hands clawed at his arms, his shoulders, anything she could reach from where he’d pinned her down. The slight pain of her fingernails only increased his desire. He pushed her legs, guiding them around his waist. She wrapped them tightly, lifting her hips. Her arms were around his neck and his face was buried between her gorgeous breasts. He licked and sucked and bit at her nipples. Then he took hold of her hips.
“Lurky!” Her body tightened, winding closer and closer to release. He wasn’t going to last much longer, but he wanted her to come first. Wanted to feel her bear down as she found her climax.
Jael growled deep in his chest and bit down a little harder on one of her nipples. The pain was just enough to push her over the edge. She dug her fingers into his back, the wave of her climax rolling through her to him. He laid her back, driving into her as she came, his mouth moving closer and closer to the soft curve where her neck met her shoulder. She came again with another furious cry of need and pleasure all wrapped into one. Jael joined her this time, a roar tearing from his throat. His balls tightened and then heat poured through his body until it erupted, filling her with his seed, marking her as his mate. His fangs lengthened, and he revisited the idea of venom dissolving his head.
CHAPTER FORTY NINE
JAEL
HIS DRAGĂ LAY IN HIS arms, body tangled with his. He ran her long almost silver hair through his fingers and marveled at how her skin glowed against his darker complexion. Protective and possessive instincts rise in him. "It's okay, my Sululu. I have you now. I won't let anything happen to you."
Darkness seized Jael, lifting him away from his Dragă and carrying him through shadows. What had he fine this time?
Offered to protect her. Gods. He wanted to smack himself. She still made him tongue-tied.
Her shadows dumped him outside her boundary walls. He yanked his pants on and panicked when he realized his swords weren't in his back. He'd fight to get inside to retrieve them. Viktoria could send him to that abyss she'd threatened him with. That would be better than living without his scimitars.
But he didn't need to worry. His swords hummed contentedly in his head as shadow withdrew leaving the sheathed blades at his feet with the rest of his clothing. He slid the harness over his shoulders, feeling better with the familiar weight in place.
She kept the pancakes.
That gave him a sense of satisfaction.
“Go away, Lurky.” Viktoria’s icy voice came from the wards. “I told you I don’t want your protection, and what I would do if I caught you near me again.”
But that was before. His heart beat once, but instead of an excited thump, it gave a dispirited flutter. “I know you’re u
p to something. If you don’t want my protection, will you accept my help?”
The same big white spider Jael saw on Viktoria’s wall before, or one just like it, crawled along the top and stared at him. It might have been part of Viktoria’s security measures, but given their fight with spiders draining Musette, Jael brought up his swords.
A trumpeting sound came from behind the wards, and a black swan pushed his enormous head over the wall.
Where the hell had she been hiding that giant bird?
“Don’t you dare!” Viktoria stood atop the barrier, glaring at him. She put her hands on her hips and the stars on her pajamas shifted.
Jael regained the use of his tongue. “The swords aren’t for the swan, they’re for —”
The swan trumpeted again, reared back and spread his wings. His head speared through the air and snatched up the spider, crunching it in his beak.
“— the spider.”
Lowering his head, the swan hissed, and pushed Jael out of the wards onto the street with his beak.
Jael didn’t fight the bird, keeping his swords as far away from the animal as he could. “Viktoria! Will you let me help you?”
When the swan was satisfied Jael was out of his territory, he nuzzled Viktoria. She lifted a hand to stroke the swan’s feathers and buried her face in the bird’s neck.
Jael wanted to be the one she turned to, wanted to offer her strong arms rather than soft down as comfort. Bossing Ember around hadn’t worked for Stryx. Maybe being polite would work. “Please, Viktoria. Let me help with whatever you’re planning.”
When she lifted her head, her anger was gone, replaced by a look of such sadness, Jael was sure his heart would never beat again.
“I can’t. I’m sorry. Just go, Lurky.”
The swan nudged Viktoria, who wrapped her arms around his neck. The graceful bird withdrew from the wall, taking Jael’s Dragă with him.
Viktoria's Shadow: Jael Page 22