The Lily Harper 8 Book Boxed Set

by HP Mallory

  “Who are ye?”

  I heard Tallis’s voice, but it sounded different somehow—foreign. The acrid scent of whiskey now fully overcame me and it took me a few seconds before I realized it was on his breath.

  Even though he’d asked me a question, I found it difficult to talk. In fact, it was difficult even to open my eyes. I wasn’t sure whether it was because I couldn’t breathe, or it might have been from hitting my head so hard, but I felt very dizzy. I couldn’t concentrate on anything except the incessant pounding between my ears.

  “If ye dinnae answer meh, Ah’ll rip ye in two, straight down yer middle,” Tallis threatened in an uneven voice that reeked of stale alcohol. As soon as the words left his mouth, I felt the cold iron of a blade pressing on my throat. Instinctively, I opened my eyes. My reward was a brief flash of pain inside my head. Ignoring my discomfort, I found Tallis looming above me, staring down at me through alien eyes. They were eclipsed by black, much darker than their usual midnight blue, and he was illuminated by a pale, bluish light. At first, I thought he was glowing, but I soon realized it was just the flashlight application on Bill’s phone which was now shining directly on him from where it lay on the floor.

  Tallis was just as stunning as I remembered him. Wearing only a kilt, his naked chest was … impressive. The span of his shoulders prevented me from seeing anything beyond him, not that I was interested in whatever was behind him. Instead, my attention was riveted on his sculpted muscles which covered his body like a suit, only eclipsed by his imposing size. The guy had to be nearly seven feet tall. Despite his mouth-watering, awe-inspiring body, it was Tallis’s face that always kept me captivated. His was the face of a warrior, one that most women would not have described as handsome. A huge scar bisected his cheek, running from the tip of one eyebrow and ending at his jawline, giving him the appearance of someone who had truly weathered a storm. The lines of his square, chiseled jaw and cheeks were heightened by the shortness of his hair, which was as black as his eyes were presently.

  He pushed the tip of the blade against my throat again, reminding me that I should have been paying attention to whatever it was he’d said. Answer him! He’s going to gut you, you moron! I reprimanded myself internally, suddenly growing irate for becoming so awestruck at the very sight of him. Especially when he clearly didn’t recognize me and, consequently, intended to do me in.

  “T … Tallis,” I managed, in a small, insignificant voice. There was no expression of recognition on Tallis’s face. It was blank. With my heartbeat racing, I wondered why he had no idea who I was. Then I realized he couldn’t see me. The flashlight was solely focused on him, which kept me obscured in the darkness.

  “A lass,” he responded in a voice laced with surprise and doubt. The knotted furrow between his eyebrows settled and he leaned back on his haunches, albeit clumsily. He was clearly intoxicated. If the smell on his breath wasn’t proof enough, his uneven movements betrayed him. He reached for the flashlight and shined it on me, temporarily blinding me as he shone it from my head down to my thighs, which were currently playing prisoner to his. “Och aye, ye are ah lass,” he repeated, setting the flashlight down beside me until it caught us both in its bright stream of light. Even though his eyes still appeared to be just as dangerous as they were moments earlier, a smile now played on his lips.

  “Of course I am!” I railed out, finally finding myself. I brought my right hand to my head and rubbed my temples, praying that my throbbing headache would cease. Tallis’s eyes narrowed on me as he studied me with cold calculation. Despite his murderous gaze, I was relieved he no longer held my carotid artery hostage to the tip of his blade.

  As soon as I took another look at him, warmth suffused me. I was suddenly overwhelmed with the need to reach out and touch him. I wanted to revel in the fact that he was here and safe, rather than lost somewhere in the Dark Wood. But there was something in his eyes that stopped me, something that didn’t seem to fit. “Tallis?” I said again, my voice a bit stronger. I tried to free myself, but his thighs clamped tightly around my middle. “What,” I started, the words stinging my throat. “What happened here? Wh … Why is all your furniture broken?” I inhaled deeply and scanned the room, taking in all the broken furniture again. “Are you okay? Did someone attack you?”

  I reached out to touch his face even though I knew it was a risky thing to do because Tallis didn’t like to be touched. I couldn’t help it though—he was the main reason I was still alive. Without him, I never would have survived the Underground City or the Dark Wood. Tallis was my protector and he was my friend.

  As soon as I made contact with his cheek, he slammed my arm to the ground and forced his blade back to my throat. The air hitched in my lungs and a whimper escaped from my lips as pain traveled up my arm.

  “Who are ye?” he demanded again, his eyes narrowing into mere slits. “An’ whit dae ye want?”

  My eyebrows knotted in frustration as my heartbeat began to pound louder. Okay, so it wasn’t a good idea to touch him, but his violent reaction seemed a little over the top …“What do you mean, who am I?” I repeated, frowning at him, my voice sounding panicked. “I’m Lily,” I continued slowly, attempting to sit up. He pushed me, none-too-gently, back onto the dirt floor, pinning me between his thighs again.

  “Ah dinnae know ah ‘Lily,’” he answered as his eyes perused my face and moved lower still, to my bust. “Boot ye are ah lass, which means ye are nae threat.” It struck me that his Scottish accent was a lot stronger now, more pronounced than I remembered it. “Nae,” he continued as a smile appeared on his mouth again. But it wasn’t a smile I’d ever seen on Tallis before. Not that Tallis smiled much, but in the few times I’d had the pleasure of seeing an expression of mirth on his face, it looked very different from this. No, this really couldn’t even be considered a smile at all—it was too libidinous, too lecherous. “Ye are nae threat,” he repeated. His brogue was definitely much more audible than usual.

  “You sound different,” I replied, then hesitated as I wondered if it was just the alcohol’s effect on him. “You’ve been drinking too much.”

  “Ye cannae bevvy tae mooch,” he responded as his gaze settled on the junction between my thighs and my breath caught.

  “Tallis,” I said again, feeling suddenly sheepish and uncomfortable under his lustful gaze. He didn’t respond, but I noticed that when I said his name, he did nothing to show the slightest acknowledgment. I might as well have been calling him someone else’s name for the reaction I received from him. “Why are you acting so … so weird?” I asked, shaking my head. “Why don’t you know who I am?”

  Maybe he hit his head during whatever altercation happened here? I wondered as my attention returned to the splintered furniture. Or maybe it’s the alcohol that’s clouding his mind? Whatever it is, he’s acting really … strange. He’s not acting like himself at all.

  “Less talkin’,” he grumbled as his eyes scanned my body again, resting on my thighs. He pulled the blade away from my throat and gently trailed it down the center of my chest, then farther still until he reached my fanny pack. He studied it with curiosity for a moment or two but then simply slipped the blade beneath the band and yanked upward, severing the band in two.

  “Hey!” I yelled at him angrily. “What the hell is wrong with you? I needed that!”

  But he didn’t pay me any attention. Instead, he tore the fanny pack from me and threw it unceremoniously into the corner of the room. Before I could further argue, he brought the tip of the blade back to my belly button. He paused there momentarily, drawing lazy swirls around my belly button with the tip of the blade.

  Even though I knew something was off, that something wasn’t right between us, I couldn’t help the excitement that was already starting from deep within me. Tallis just had this reaction on me. Sure, he and I had argued plenty of times, and there were several occasions when I might have said I hated him, but I couldn’t deny that we shared a mutual physical connection. Yep, I h
ad to admit that Tallis turned me on. A lot.

  “You’re drunk,” I started, thinking I didn’t want to do anything sexual with him if he were intoxicated. Not only had I never had sex with Tallis before, I’d never had sex with anyone before. Period.

  He responded by dragging the blade from my belly button down to the waistline of my yoga pants. He slipped the blade beneath my waistband and held it there, as if it were a threat. “Tallis,” I repeated, my tone of voice lower, emitting a warning of its own. There was an expression on his face that I’d never seen before and it scared me.

  “Ah dinnae care,” he replied, pulling the blade forward until I could hear the sound of the material ripping beneath it. I pushed against his bulky arms with both of my hands as real fear began to snake through me. But I might as well have been pushing a wall for all the good it did. His thighs felt like iron manacles as he tightened them around my middle. I shivered in the cold air that suddenly invaded my most vulnerable of places. Glancing up at Tallis again, I found his eyes fixated on the junction between my thighs.

  “Tallis,” I said, my voice now coming out as only a whisper. “You’re scaring me.”

  But Tallis didn’t respond. Well, not in words anyway. Instead, he pressed the cold blade of the handle up against the sensitive nub between my thighs. I bucked up against him but with his thighs pinning mine to the floor, I didn’t get very far. “What are you doing?” I shouted at him, the pounding of my heart deafening.

  “Ye ask tae many questions, lass,” he replied before rubbing the handle against me, up and down. Even though my mind insisted something was wrong with Tallis, and I needed to find out what it was, my body couldn’t resist him. I instinctively arched up, loving the blissful feelings that were already raining down on me. I closed my eyes, reveling in the ecstasy, even though a small voice from within warned me not to lose myself.

  Tallis chuckled and I opened my eyes, finding his riveted on mine. While staring at me unblinkingly, he continued rubbing the handle on me, the same lecherous smile still curving his lips. He had to be fully aware that even though my words might have demonstrated otherwise, I was enjoying this. It was pretty plainly obvious by my body’s reaction.

  “There’s ah good lass,” he whispered. A new wave of pleasure started to grow in the pit of my belly, reaching its fingers upward until the stinging sensation in my pelvis turned into an all-out burning.

  “Tallis,” I breathed out, barely able to say his name, trying my hardest not to completely lose myself in the moment. But there was a niggling doubt inside me, warning me that something wasn’t right, that something about Tallis was off.

  “Joost keep quiet an’ let meh dae wif ye whit Ah want,” he said in a thick brogue. He increased the speed of his ministrations as my eyes clenched tightly shut of their own accord. I moaned loudly—I couldn’t stop myself. In response, Tallis chuckled again. Seconds later, I opened my eyes when I felt the handle of the blade no longer rubbing against me.

  Some of my sanity immediately returned. I opened my mouth, ready to argue why we needed to stop what we were doing, and why we shouldn’t have started doing it in the first place, especially since he was two hundred sheets to the wind … But the words slipped right off my tongue once I saw his eyes. They were entirely black. It looked as if his pupils had swallowed the whites of his eyes.

  And that was when I realized why Tallis had not only failed to recognize me, but also didn’t seem to know his own name.

  “Donnchadh,” I said. It was the name of the Celtic warrior who possessed Tallis, and thereby, imbued him with immortality.

  Tallis’s attention was instantly fastened on me. Seeing the expression of recognition in his eyes, it felt as if my heart stopped for the breadth of a few seconds. I now knew what all of this meant and it was a reality that bothered me, hugely.

  Ordinarily, Tallis managed to control the spirit of Donnchadh, to suppress it. But now … it appeared that Donnchadh had somehow taken charge of Tallis. That meant the spirit of the most powerful of warriors, one that Tallis had described as “brutal,” was now controlling Tallis’s body … What that meant for Tallis’s spirit, however, I didn’t know.

  I felt the handle of the blade at my opening and seconds later, he pushed it into me. Without thinking, I closed my eyes as a moan dropped off my lips. I could feel him pulling the handle out of me, only to push it in again, this time deeper. It took my muddled mind a few seconds to realize I didn’t experience any pain which was answer enough to the question of whether or not the body I inhabited was a virgin. Once I felt him pull the blade’s handle out of me and push it back in again, all thoughts of whether or not I was a virgin fled right out of my mind. Instead, I reflexively arched up again, even though I tried to resist the urges of desire that were already coursing through me. But it was impossible. I was too far gone, way too excited to respond with a rational thought.

  “Och aye, good lass,” Tallis crooned down at me. He slid the handle of the blade out of me and paused for the span of a few heartbeats, only to push it in again as deeply as it would go. Any arguments against what he was doing to me completely evaporated right out of my mind.

  No, Lily! I heard my voice yelling at me from within my head. This isn’t Tallis! This is Donnchadh!

  Tallis, Donnchadh … what’s the difference? I argued, rocking back and forth against the handle of the blade, pushing down hard on Tallis’s hand when he thrust the handle up higher inside me. When he started rolling my nub between his thumb and index finger while the handle of the blade was still up inside me, I felt my hands fisting at my sides as pure bliss captured me.

  Lily, this isn’t the way it was supposed to happen with him! that voice screamed back at me. If you’re going to have sex with him, make sure it’s with Tallis, for God’s sake!

  As soon as the thought entered my head, Tallis, er, Donnchadh, pulled the blade’s handle out of me and dropped it on the floor. I leaned up onto my elbows and watched him reach down and unfasten one of the two straps that held his kilt together. A cold dose of reality suddenly sunk into me as I realized what he intended to do. Pushing my legs together, and using my elbows as support, I thrust myself backwards. Donnchadh looked up from where he was unfastening the second leather strap and observed me curiously.

  “Tallis,” I said, in an uneven voice. “Tallis, if you’re in there, please take control of your body again!” My voice went from breathy and soft to loud and slightly panicked. “Please, Tallis!”

  “Lass, dinnae play games wif meh,” Donnchadh said, turning his steely eyes on me as his jaw tightened. “Ye are nae match fur meh an’ Ah will take whit Ah want.” He grasped me around the ankle and yanked me back toward him. It was pretty crystal clear as to what was going to happen next.

  Go for your sword, Lily! I commanded myself, realizing my sword was the only thing that could protect me. Rotating my body, I glanced back and spotted the shiny metal weapon where it lay, maybe a few feet from me. I flipped over onto my stomach and started to get up to grab the sword when I felt Donnchadh’s arm around my middle. He yanked me backwards as I screamed.

  “Ah prefer ta take ye oan yer hands an’ knees,” he whispered in my ear, his breath still reeking of whiskey. Even though it was Tallis’s voice and Tallis’s body, this wasn’t Tallis. This was Donnchadh. He reached down and ripped my yoga pants off my hips, pushing them down to my knees. Then he forced me onto all fours, grabbing me around my waist and pulling me up against him. I could feel his erection against the inside of my thigh.

  While focusing on the shiny steel of my sword where it lay on the floor, I clenched my eyes shut tightly. Tallis, I called out to the two-thousand-year-old Celtic warrior whom I considered my guardian. I can’t fight Donnchadh—he’s way too strong! I need your help! I can’t do this alone!

  I felt Donnchadh positioning himself behind me. I opened my eyes and focused on my sword with all the determination I possessed. Tallis, I need you! Please! Don’t let him do this to me!


  Donnchadh’s breathing increased, clouding me with its pungent alcohol stench. With a squeal, I lurched forward when I felt his hardness at my opening. Chuckling, he gripped both of my shoulders as he pulled me back into place.

  “Dinnae be afraid, wee lass,” he whispered into my ear with a hearty laugh while palming a handful of my hair. He wrapped it around his hand, yanking my head up at an uncomfortable angle. “The pain will be quick, boot the pleasure lastin’.”

  Even with my neck craned awkwardly, I didn’t take my eyes from my sword. Donnchadh reached down to reposition himself at my entry with the hand that wasn’t gripping my hair.

  Tallis! I screamed inside my head at the same time that Donnchadh thrust himself forward. I lurched forward also, and just barely missed being impaled by his anxious erection. He tightened his grip on my hair and yanked me backwards again, this time with more urgency.

  “Dinnae make meh angry, lass,” he ground out. “Ye willnae like the ootcome.”

  I didn’t reply because I was too focused on my sword, willing it to come to me. Even though a part of me knew it was completely crazy to expect the sword to move of its own accord, another part of me insisted that the sword possessed some level of magic, so was it really too absurd to hope that I could somehow communicate with it? And, better yet, that it could somehow … transport itself to me?