by Leia King
“Sorry,” Shaye said. She pulled two rings from her pocket and held them out to Ryan. “Here are the rings that you wanted. The warlocks gifted them. They are made from the heart of the earth. They are eternal. Once they are on, they cannot be removed, except in death.”
Ryan stepped back and shook his head sadly.
“Take them, Ryan,” she urged. “You will work things out with Cora.”
“She’s right, Ry,” Josh encouraged.
It took a beat, but Ryan did take them. “Thanks,” he murmured, stowing them into the inner pocket of his leather jacket.
“You are most welcome.” She shifted her weight, looking a little uneasy, before she said, “You might want to start with letting Orion shift back to human form next time she comes to visit with him.”
No wonder she seemed nervous. That was a really sore subject with Ryan.
He snapped back, “The hell, I will. She’ll take him from me.”
“Let it be his choice, Ryan. You can’t do this to her. It’s not fair. Rather than focusing on your fear of her taking him, talk to her.”
“She’s right. One of you has to stop being so fucking stubborn. And it should be you,” Josh said.
“Me?”
“Yeah. You’re more equipped to handle it. You have centuries of experience on her. You’re her first… everything. It’s harder for her. She’s still learning.”
Ryan grinned at him. “You really like her, huh?”
“I told you, she’s like my little sister. And it’s pissing me off that she’s not here anymore.”
“Take a leaf out of Nathanial and Marella’s book. Their relationship is incredibly complicated and burdened by history. Yet, they’ve managed to work through all of that. Being together transcends all else for them,” Shaye pointed out.
Josh sighed with relief when he saw Ryan give a nod. “Yeah, all right,” he said. “I hear you both. I’ll see what I can do.”
2
Nathanial groaned as Marella lowered herself slowly down onto his cock. It was sweet torture, as she sheathed him, inch by inch.
He cupped her face, pulling her in close, and taking her in an earth-shattering kiss that had her whimpering with need.
He rolled his hips, teasing her. It sparked her wild side to life and, the next thing he knew, she was driving his back onto the bed and raking her sharp nails down the length of his torso. He hissed in delight.
“Mmm. You know how much I like that, angel.”
She kissed each of his nipples in turn, then moved lower, nipping at the flesh of his abs with her teeth.
“Ah… yes,” he groaned.
She continued to torture him with delectable bites until he was utterly awash in sensation and panting beneath her. When she was satisfied that she’d teased him enough, she grasped his shoulders and raised herself up, then slammed back down hard, driving his cock even deeper inside her sweet pussy.
He heard her cry out shrilly.
“Too much, angel?”
“Deep,” she said, grinning at him.
“Here.” He grabbed her hips. “Just relax.” He started to guide her up and down his shaft gently, keeping a steady rhythm to help her to adjust to his size.
Making love to her was a whole new realm of pleasure, with the feel of her wrapped around him, the delicious way she moved, the delectable sounds she made. She tested his control, calling to the vampire part of the man. The urge to unleash was overwhelming.
He leaned in and trailed his tongue up the column of her throat. “I need to taste you,” he whispered, his voice hoarse with arousal.
“Yes,” she breathed.
He fisted his left hand in her hair, angling her just right, and scented her deeply. “So sweet. Like strawberries,” he ground out. His right hand traced a path from her collarbone to her neck. She moaned out at his rousing touch and started to ride him hard.
He let the demon take him, his fangs dropping.
Snarling with carnal pleasure, he sank them into her soft flesh.
She came around him instantly, bucking wildly against him, clenching hard around his cock. Tasting her fresh blood on his tongue was the last straw, pushing him over the edge. He lost control and released himself deep inside her.
“Incredible, angel,” he breathed. “I wish to stay inside you always.”
“Mmm,” she murmured peacefully. “I like that idea.”
He reached out to stroke her hair.
But he never made contact.
A brutal ice-cold sensation ripped through him, making him grit his teeth from the intensity. A breath later, it evolved to a searing pain tearing through his head. It felt as though it was boring a hole right through him.
He grunted, pulling from her, and rolling onto his back, clutching his head.
“Nathanial!” she cried. “What is it? Talk to me. What’s wrong?”
“Oriana,” he seethed, groaning, as he hauled himself up against the headboard.
Marella threw her arms around him. “She’s hurting you? How?”
He buried his face in his hands and concentrated, fighting to cast out the invasion pulsing through his head. His hands shook while he battled to call his dark magic forth. “Desine. Stop.”
He felt Marella’s hand grasp his arm. A warm sensation began to permeate his skin. He batted it away, knowing what she was trying to do. He couldn’t let her. “No. It is too dangerous. Hold back your magic.”
A collective roar from beyond the chamber resonated through the room. The wolves. They were experiencing the same agony that he was.
Gritting his teeth, he fought harder to cast out the brutal assault on his body.
Finally, after several moments, he succeeded, pushing it back.
Relief coursed through him and he lifted his head, eyeing his love. “All is well.”
“The pain has gone?”
“Yes. For now.”
He rolled off the bed and snatched up his boxers and pants.
“What is happening, Nathanial? First you. Now the wolves.”
He hurriedly pulled on his pants and hurried to the door, calling over his shoulder anxiously, “I need to check on Ryan.”
“Nathanial!” she called, as he threw open the door.
He grasped the frame with such intensity that a part of it cracked under his strength. With a forced breath, he turned back to her and spoke the very words he had always feared, “The Dark Realm has begun to crumble.”
“What? You are certain?”
He nodded. “Oriana has moved up her timetable. I must go to Ryan.”
The pain in Ryan’s head was searing and unbearable to the point that he was right on the edge of chucking his guts up.
He wasn’t the only one. Josh was on his knees, cursing with Shaye wrapped around him, trying to use her white magic to stop his agony. Whatever the cause was, it seemed immune to all of her attempts. Everything she tried failed.
Agonized roars from his wolves rang in his ears. It was deafening. Fucking brutal.
The only reprieve was that Orion hadn’t been stricken with it. He was bounding all over him, licking and pawing at him.
“It’s… okay,” he struggled to utter in a weak attempt to comfort his anxious pup.
A gust of wind ripped through the room and he heard the door smacking against the wall.
The next thing he knew, hands were grasping either side of his head. He grunted as an ice-cold sensation flooded through his temples. He was too weak, too consumed by the unfamiliar pain, to summon any sort of defense to jerk away. He had to just let it happen.
He was glad in the next moment, because the pain receded.
“Jesus Christ,” he groaned, raising his head to see Nathanial leaning over the bed, eyeing him worriedly.
“It has dissipated?”
It took Ryan a moment to get his bearings and murmur confirmation. His eyes strayed to Josh, who was still on the floor writing in agony. “Help him, Nathanial.”
“I am sorry. I cann
ot. He is not of royal blood.”
“What? This is no time to be elitist!”
“It is not that. As a pureblood royal, you have a natural immunity to what is happening. I just called it forth with my dark magic. Josh and the other wolves do not possess that luxury. Rest assured, it will pass shortly. They must endure it for just a little while longer.”
Ryan scooped Orion up in his arms, stroking him in an effort to calm him with the thunderous wolf roars shaking the compound.
He climbed off the bed and studied Nathanial. He’d obviously just rushed out of bed. He was shirtless and wearing only a pair of silk pants. Ryan’s eyes were drawn to the scars all over his chest. Jesus. There were so many.
“Wooden stakes dipped in holy water,” Nathanial said, off his look. “There have been many attempts on my life over the years. You also forget that I used to be a warrior before I took the throne.”
Ryan averted his gaze. “Right. Sorry.”
“Not a problem.”
Ryan grimaced at the sight of Josh in so much pain. The whole compound. All beings who he was charged with protecting. What a fucking mess. “What the fuck is going on, Nathanial?”
“I thought we had more time. I did not believe Oriana would make her move in the Dark Realm quite yet. It is not her usual approach. I had assumed she would take her time enjoying the castle and reveling in her return to all of the wealth and power it has to offer.”
“You’re saying she’s caused this? All the way from the Dark Realm?”
“What is occurring here is a result of the Dark Realm beginning to fall.”
“What? She’s destroying the realm?”
“I am afraid so.”
“How is it impacting the human realm?”
Nathanial pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly needing a minute. It had Ryan tensing up, his stomach lurching. Nathanial was a straight-to-the-point kind of guy. He got down to business right away. He could handle anything.
So, the fact that he actually needed to compose himself meant things were really fucking dire.
“Nathanial?” he pressed, growing more anxious with every passing moment of silence.
“Should the Dark Realm fall, all creatures descended from the Dark will perish. Their current realm of residence matters not.”
Ryan watched him walk over to Josh and jerk up his shirt, revealing severe burns all over his chest. “These feel like silver burning through a wolf’s flesh. For vampires, sunlight,” Nathanial explained. “This is just the beginning, Ryan. The burns will spread and deepen, until they have melted through flesh and organs. Until nothing but a pile of bones remains.”
“You’re talking about the supernatural apocalypse here.”
Shaye stroked Josh’s hair and asked Nathanial, “You said it would stop soon, yes?”
Nathanial rose back to his feet. “Yes, it will cease in a few moments. But it will not last. The next time Oriana destroys another foundational aspect of the Dark Realm, it will return. As I said, the burns will worsen each time, until all dark supernatural creatures are no more.”
“Wait,” Ryan said. “A foundational aspect? What’s that all about?”
“It is the part of the realm that contains its lifeblood. Pure dark energy that takes the form of five orbs. There are two at the dungeon level. Oriana has taken control of the castle and she must have located them, succeeding in destroying one, so far. The other three are dispersed throughout the Dark Realm.”
“If she destroys them all, she destroys the Dark Realm and all dark creatures?” Ryan said.
“Precisely. Fortunately, a great deal of power is required to destroy each orb. She will need time to recuperate, before being able to destroy another.”
“Knowing this, why didn’t you let us return to the Dark Realm the minute she stormed the castle a couple of days ago, like I’d suggested?”
“For one, neither of us can defeat her. Dark cannot defeat Light, and vice-versa. I can hold her at bay, but that will just be futile, as she will keep coming,” Nathanial explained. He began pacing the room anxiously. “Moreover, I miscalculated. I did not believe she possessed the strength to destroy the orbs. Even with the addition of her black magic, it should not be possible.” He stopped pacing abruptly and spun to face Ryan. “Vazra. He must be allowing her to channel his power. It can be no one else. Her sidekick, Michael, is not strong enough to provide her with enough dark power. Only I am. So, it must be white magic. It is the only form of magic that she can obtain enough of. The only other being alive who could provide her with that would be Cora. But, she would not allow that. Yes, he is assisting her.”
“Fuck,” Ryan muttered. “You’re sure you can’t take her down?”
“Only a white sorceress can defeat another,” Marella’s voice came from the doorway.
Nathanial shook his head at her. “Do not even suggest it, angel. I see the look in your eyes. No. You cannot defeat her.”
“Nathanial, I am quite capable of—”
“You are not.”
“Excuse me?”
“You are carrying my child, a child of the Dark. Your magic is no longer pure. It will not be again, until you give birth.”
“Oh.”
“I am sorry.”
She shook her head dismissively. “Don’t be. I just didn’t expect this.”
“It has to be Cora, right?” Ryan asked.
“Yes,” Nathanial confirmed. “She is not ready, though. There is much she still needs to be taught before facing a sorceress of Oriana’s caliber. Her experience is vast, far beyond Cora’s.”
The roars thundering through the compound came to a sudden end.
Ryan looked to see Josh climbing to his feet with a disgruntled growl.
In a burst of vampire speed, Haraz blew into the room to join them. “Your majesty! The realm!”
“Yes. I know,” Nathanial muttered.
As Ryan tried to absorb the realities of the situation, Orion shifted in his arms. He smiled down at him. As he took him in, something occurred to him. “My son wasn’t impacted by any of this. How’s that possible? He’s wolf.”
Marella and Nathanial exchanged a look.
What did they know? “Guys?” What were they keeping from him?
Marella stepped forward, telling him, “Nathanial and I discovered that he cannot be killed.”
“He is eternal,” Nathanial added.
“Wait. How about him needing both the Dark and White realm to survive?”
“It appears we were wrong about that. He needs both in order to be strong, but not to live,” Nathanial clarified.
“You knew this and you didn’t tell me?” Ryan thundered, aggravated by the entire situation.
“We didn’t tell anyone, because Oriana cannot know. We have an advantage here,” Marella said.
Ryan watched Nathanial’s eyes narrow at everyone in the room, casting a threatening stare over them all. “I am prepared to kill anyone who cannot keep this secret. I know Haraz will take it to his grave, but I am not certain about the rest of you.”
Ryan growled at his threat to Shaye and Josh. “They’ve kept many secrets for me over the years. I trust them with my life, Nathanial.”
“You are certain?”
“Yes,” Ryan said, gripping his shoulder and forcing him to look at him. “If you can’t trust them, then trust in me.”
Nathanial studied him for a few moments and then blew out a breath. “So be it.”
Ryan released him and crossed to Josh. He kissed Orion and then handed him over. “Take care of him while I’m gone. Both you and Shaye. Don’t let the wolves out of this compound.”
“What? Where the hell are you going?” Josh asked.
“The Dark Realm.”
“Ryan—” Nathanial protested.
“I’ll lead the Dark Realm wolves to the castle to provide a distraction so that Oriana can’t destroy another orb. It should buy you enough time to prepare Cora for what she’ll need to do.”
“You must be cautious, Ryan. Oriana has the ability to bend anyone to her will. It is likely that she will have many of my subjects under her command.”
Ryan grabbed his leather jacket off the back of the door and slipped it on. “Got it.”
“Good. Haraz, teleport Ryan to the Dark Realm gates,” Nathanial commanded.
“Yes, your majesty.”
“Return to me afterwards. I have a job for you. You will work with my son.”
“What?” Ryan snapped. “Your son? Luca is dead.”
Nathanial shook his head. “No.”
“How is that possible? He couldn’t have breached your magic. Can Oriana breach it?”
“No. There is only one.”
The realization hit Ryan like a rusty knife in the gut. “Cora,” he said, shaking his head with disbelief. “She saved him.”
“Don’t jump to conclusions, Ryan. We don’t know her reasons,” Marella urged.
“Fuck,” Ryan said. He pulled out the wedding rings that Shaye had given him and slammed them down on his bedside table. “Fuck her.”
“Ryan,” Shaye protested.
Ryan growled and turned to Haraz. “Let’s go. I have work to do.”
A moment later, the two of them were swallowed in a whirl of black smoke.
3
She felt him behind her suddenly.
“I thought you were asleep, Luca.”
“I was.”
“I woke you? I’m sorry. I’m going back to bed.”
She moved to pass him but he blocked her escape. She looked up into his eyes to see that they were hooded with desire.
“Luca,” she protested.
His gaze raked over her slowly and she watched him salivate at the sight of her. “You cannot blame me, princess. You are naked.”
What? Naked? “Oh my God,” she gasped, casting a glance down at herself. “How?”
He moved closer, his body pressing hers into the counter at her back. “It is how you desired me to see you.”
“What? No.”
“Yes,” he breathed in her ear. “This is your dream. I am not compelling you. You are in full control.”
