Vengeance

by Erica Stevens

  Even knowing that, she found herself unable to move away from him. Unable to resist his tender fingers on her cheek. His eyes searched her face; his lips hovered inches away from hers as if he were waiting for her to protest. She simply couldn’t tell him no, not when her body craved the taste of him more than she craved blood.

  Ever so slowly, he bent his head closer. A jolt went through her, her whole body jerked toward him when his lips descended upon hers in a tender graze that left her shaken and begging for more. She thought he would pull away, but the fingers resting against her cheek slid into her hair and clasped the back of her head.

  Pulling her head back, his mouth slanted firmly over hers, taking possession of her. His thick beard rubbed her skin, it was an unfamiliar, bristly sensation, but she found she enjoyed the feel of it. Tempest’s fingers dug more firmly into his shirt as he pulled her head back and moved so he leaned over top of her.

  She gasped at the tender probing of his tongue against her lips. Unable to resist, she opened her mouth to him. His tongue swept in to taste her in deep penetrating thrusts that turned her legs to mush and caused her entire body to quake. She clutched at his shirt as she hesitatingly met the demanding thrusts penetrating deep into her soul.

  He growled low in his throat, a sound of possession and need that only escalated her yearning for him. His hands tightened in her hair as he pushed her further back onto the thick cloak lining the floor. Her arms wrapped around his back. She clung to him as she lost herself to his touch. She’d never known anything could feel so astonishing; never known she could be so heated in the middle of a blizzard. She half-feared they’d melt the snow wall they’d created, but she didn’t care if they did. All she wanted was more.

  His other hand slid down to rest against her stomach. Pushing aside her cloak, he slipped free a few of the buttons on her shirt. The friction of his calloused palm against her skin when he slid it upward caused goose bumps to erupt over her skin. It was the most delicious sensation as he continued to stroke over her and his tongue brushed sensuously over hers.

  She moved her hands up his back and entangled them in his thick auburn hair, drawing him closer as he settled his heavy weight over top of hers. His thigh slid between her legs; his mouth slipped away from hers to brush over her throat. Her body arched into him when he moved further up to run his tongue over her ear before pressing a tender kiss against her cheek.

  She didn’t realize it at first, but small, excited cries escaped her. The feelings he aroused in her were almost more than she could stand; her body clamored for more and more of him. “Tempest,” he groaned against her ear.

  She turned her head into his powerful shoulder as his heated mouth left a trail of kisses against her flesh. She didn’t think she could ever let go of him; she might fall apart if she did. She was afraid once he left this cave, he would go after Kane. The realization she couldn’t lose him, hit her so hard it knocked away all the passion he’d stoked so undeniably within her. If this went any further, she’d be left broken-hearted and shattered, if he didn’t survive his battle with Kane.

  And they would battle each other. She knew that as surely as she knew the storm outside would eventually end, and they would return to Badwin. In here, they were safe and secure, she could pretend the real world didn’t exist, but it did, and she couldn’t be so childish as to deny that. The heat of his mouth pressed against her cheek; it would be so easy to turn her mouth to his, to give herself over to him and forget it all. It would be the most challenging thing she’d ever do to let him go and watch him walk away to meet what may end up being his death.

  “I can’t,” she whispered. “William, stop.”

  She didn’t know what she’d expected of him, but he pressed a tender kiss against her cheek and rolled with her to the side. He kept his arms wrapped around her as he rested her on top of his chest. “Do you mind if I hold you?” he inquired.

  Unexpected tears burned her eyes, she should distance herself from him, but she found herself melting in his embrace. “No,” she whispered as he settled his chin on top of her head. She could stay like this forever, she decided as the scent and warmth of him lulled her into a peaceful sleep.

  ***

  The fire had completely burned out by the time William woke again, but he found he didn’t care as he held Tempest. Her hair tickled his nostrils, but he didn’t bother to wipe it away. He found he enjoyed the sensation and relished her scent. Her fingers curled into his shirt as she slept.

  His hands pressed more firmly into the small of her back. What he wouldn’t give to wake her and finish what had started between them earlier, but he couldn’t do that. She was right to put a stop to it, right to keep him at a distance. He had a goal, and he knew there was a chance he wouldn’t survive it.

  His concern about physically harming her had abated after finally kissing her. He’d felt completely out of control around her, consumed by the lust she aroused in him, yet he’d somehow also felt completely in control. It had been the strangest, most unsettling sensation, but he’d remained restrained and he’d kept himself from taking more than she was willing to give.

  No, he wouldn’t hurt her physically, but he could emotionally. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he most likely would if this thing between them progressed much further. He wasn’t good, especially not for her. He wasn’t sure he’d ever been good for anyone. He’d always liked to go his own way, do his own thing. Daniel was the stable, sensible one. He and Aria had always been more temperamental and unforgiving.

  Women had always come and gone from his life. That was the way he liked it. He had to be free to move about with ease when he’d lived in the forest. After his rebel days, he’d spent most of his time traveling from town to town with Jack.

  He’d never liked a girl enough to consider trying to settle down anyway, but then Aria and Daniel had been the same way. Aria had never really shown an interest in anyone before Braith; he knew she’d had a crush on Max at one time, but it had never been more than that. He’d rarely seen Daniel with a girl as his brother had always been more content with his drawings and blue prints for the traps he designed.

  Now, he found himself wondering what it would be like if things could have been different for him. But then, he wouldn’t have been here if the things had been different. He never would have met her if he’d still been human, and if he had, who knew if anything would have happened between them. He couldn’t change the past; he could only accept what already was.

  He turned his face into her hair, relishing the silken feel of it against his cheeks. He was so absorbed in her, he didn’t realize the whipping of the wind had ceased until almost another half-an-hour passed. Another reason to keep his distance, she distracted him and made him lower his guard.

  She stirred and snuggled instinctively closer. He’d been planning to release her; instead, he found himself sucking in a breath and his arms clamping around her. Her head lifted, her lips brushed briefly across his Adam’s apple as her lashes fluttered against his skin. William remained motionless, unwilling to let her go.

  “The storm stopped,” he told her as he brushed the hair back from her face.

  Her mouth slid away from his flesh as she turned her head to listen better. “It did,” she murmured.

  They lay for a minute before he reluctantly slid his arms away from her and she sat up. William stared at the ceiling, torn between grabbing her and pulling her back down and moving on, as they should. There was more than Kane at stake now, he reminded himself. There were thousands of lives, including Tempest’s loved ones and his family.

  With a groan, he forced himself into a sitting position and met her eyes in the gloom. He never would have been able to see the color of them if he’d still been human, but his vampire vision picked up flecks of light he never would have seen before. Light that made the deep brown of her eyes almost luminescent.

  “Time to tear down the wall,” he said and shoved himself to his feet. He felt his eyes on h
er as he moved around the cave, adjusting his cloak and gathering his bow and quiver. He slung them over his back and bent to grab his crossbow. He secured it to his waist again before lifting the saddlebags with the extra stakes in them. “Make sure to wear your cloak with the stakes inside.”

  She stared at him through the darkness, her skin paling at his words. She shrugged out of the cloak she’d been sleeping under and tugged his on. With steady hands, she clasped the brooch at her neck and followed him down the cave to the wall of snow. Achilles was lying in the middle of the tunnel. He lifted his head when they approached, but dropped it back down after they’d passed.

  Taking out a stake, he began to chisel his way through the compacted snow that had become more like ice throughout the storm. Tempest worked beside him, diligently chipping away at the wall. Light from the sun beat against the snow, turning it the color of blue ice.

  After a half hour, the top of the wall broke away. Achilles decided to get up to explore when enough sunlight spilled in. Another half an hour passed before they managed to take down half the wall to reveal the world of white beyond. The sun beat down upon the snow in a blinding array. Turning away, he closed his eyes against the brilliant blanket of blinding white snow.

  Beside him, Tempest turned away for only a moment before looking back outside with her eyes narrowed. “You’ll adapt,” she told him. “You just have to get your snow vision back.”

  “Is that what it’s called?”

  “That’s what we call it, in the mountains anyway. It always takes a little getting used to when the first snow of the season falls, and our world becomes white for the next six months.”

  “That’s not bothering you?” He couldn’t look outside again as the glare caused his head to pound and his eyes to squint until they were almost closed.

  “It is,” she admitted. “But only because we’ve been in this cave for so long. I’ve spent the past twenty years readjusting to the first snow each year, so it’s easier for me.”

  “Hmm.” He kept his head down, unable to look outside again but letting the sun filter in around him. His eyes finally adapted to it enough that he could lift his head to take in the outside world for longer than seconds at a time. When the wall was knee high, and Achilles would be able to pass through, he stopped beating at it and stepped back to examine the snow. “It’s beautiful.”

  “It always is after a snowfall,” she said as she lowered her now blunted stake. She tilted her chin up and closed her eyes. The sun lit her hair, making it glimmer and shine in its brightness. She smelled like winter, but she radiated the warmth and light of the summer sun.

  “Are you ready for this?” he asked.

  Lowering her head, she tossed aside the ruined stake. “I hope so. I’m not one hundred percent certain of the direction I took to get here, but I think I can find my way back.”

  Without thinking, he took hold of her hand and gave it a squeeze. “I know you can.”

  CHAPTER 17

  William kept his head down as he trudged through the thigh high snow. Tempest stared at his bent head from where she sat on top of Achilles. She’d tried to persuade him to ride with her, but he’d told her he didn’t want to put added weight and strain on the horse. He’d been walking endlessly onward while she constantly searched the snow-covered landscape surrounding them for any hint of the creatures that had attacked them before.

  She’d seen no movement in the sea of white, but William was convinced there were more of them, and she was frightened he was right. The sun beating down on her warmed her back and brought radiance to a landscape in desperate need of it. The hood fell away from her head when she turned her face toward the sun. It felt so marvelous to feel its warmth against her skin again, but it didn’t warm her anywhere near as much as William’s body had.

  She turned her face away from the sun’s warmth. Her gaze fell back to William; a smile curved her mouth as she watched him striding purposefully through the snow. His step never faltered, he kept his head high and his shoulders back. He showed no sign of tiring.

  Forcing her attention away from him, she returned to carefully searching the landscape. It would be easy to spot movement amongst the sparse trees dotting the land. None of the trees had leaves on them, and she would guess that at least eighty percent of them were dying if their broken branches and peeling bark were any indication.

  Achilles tried to nip at the snow swelling up above his knees. William pulled the horse to a halt and turned toward her. “I think he could use a break. Will you be ok getting down for a bit?”

  She released a small snort and waved her hand dismissively. “I’ve been in snow almost to my chest before, this is nothing in comparison.”

  He grasped hold of her waist and plucked her easily from the saddle. Her hands rested on his broad shoulders as he lowered her to the ground. Her body slid down his, creating a friction between them that caused her stomach to plummet and her body to sway instinctively closer to his.

  Her mouth parted; her fingers instinctively clenched his thick cloak. His blue eyes were dazzling and bright crystalline in the sun falling over him. The red in his hair shone like fire; it took all she had to keep her fingers from sliding through the thick auburn strands and pulling him to her.

  She could clearly recall the heat of his mouth, the weight of his body against hers. His eyes burned into hers as he stood over her, his hands still gripping her waist. If she stood on her toes and pressed her mouth to his she’d be able to taste him again, she’d be able to ease the clamoring of her body.

  Instead, fear of him and all of the damage he could do to her heart if she allowed this thing between them to grow, caused her to release him and take a step away. He stared down at her for a moment more before turning away. She watched as he pulled out a small feedbag, put a couple handfuls of grain into it and strapped it to Achilles' muzzle. Her attention turned back to the horizon as he pulled out a canteen full of melted snow water and set up a small container for Achilles to drink from when he was done with the feed.

  A breeze flowed down from the wall of mountains in the distance; a wall surrounding her home nestled in the valley within them. Snow, caught up in the breeze, drifted up. Thousands of flakes danced through the air to swirl around them. The icy flakes fell against her cheeks and melted against her skin. They stuck to her hair, turning it white.

  “There may be some game nearby,” William said. “If you’re hungry.”

  “I am, but I’d prefer to continue on. If we don’t make it to the shelter of the mountains by nightfall, we’ll be exposed out here.”

  He pulled the feedbag from Achilles and gave his neck a solid pat before giving him the water. “We’ll get there.”

  Tempest glanced over the snowy landscape again; she saw nothing out there, but she couldn’t shake the feeling they were being watched. William finished with Achilles and came to stand by her side. “I want to give him a little more time to relax and regain some of his strength.”

  She nodded, she knew the animal needed time to rest, but she felt unbelievably exposed out here. William walked to the front of the horse and searched the horizon. Tempest folded her hands before her as she walked around behind Achilles. They spent the next half an hour circling the horse, and searching the horizon for any hint of menace.

  Finally, William turned back toward her. “Ready?”

  “Yes.” She was more than eager to get out of here. “I can walk and give Achilles more of a break. I’ve been in worse snow than this before.”

  He grabbed hold of her waist. “I’d prefer you not to be in the snow. Besides, you have a better view of the landscape from his back.”

  Before she could respond, he lifted her as if she weighed no more than Achilles’ feedbag, and placed her onto the horse’s back. She settled the cloak around her, gathered the reins, and held them within her hand. Arguing with him would be pointless. She kept her back ramrod straight as she constantly searched the horizon.

  The day dragg
ed onward in an endless sea of white snow and incessant dread that something would launch itself at them in an attempt to destroy them. When she needed a break, she convinced William to let her down from the saddle, but she kept her attention riveted on the world around them. Her entire body had become as tense as a scared cat. If she so much as heard a twig crack, she was convinced she’d scream her head off.

  Her legs grew tired from trudging through the snow, but every muscle and bone in her body ached from sitting so rigidly in the saddle. They were still a good seven miles away from the mountains when pinks and reds began to stretch across the sky. The closer they got to the massive cliffs looming over them, the more the wind howled down around them. The snow danced with rainbow prisms of color as it spun around them.

  The sun had slipped beyond the horizon; both of them were covered in snow when they finally made it to the shelter of the looming cliffs. She tilted her head back to look at the mountains before them. Lowering her head, she searched the rock face but didn’t see any hint of the crevice she’d crawled out of a couple days ago.

  Her fingers remained curved into a claw position when she released Achilles’ reins. She stretched her knuckles out, flexing them as she tried to get feeling back into her extremities. William glanced back from where he’d been studying the rock walls with a critical eye.

  The light slipped further away, the cold crept in to brush over her flesh beneath the cloak when she walked forward to join him. “I’m not entirely sure where I came out,” she told him. “It all looks the same from this side, and I only came out this way a couple of times before the other day.”

  “Take your time,” he said.

  They didn’t have much time. Once the sun slipped away, they would be left out here, exposed to the elements and anything lurking out there. They walked along the cliff wall together searching for her original exit point. William found a crevice in the wall, she stuck her head in to inspect it, but the rock formations and small size let her know immediately that this wasn’t what they were looking for.