South of Surrender (Hearts of the Anemoi)

by Laura Kaye

  And would she let him if he did?

  A warm gust surrounded and caressed her. And Laney knew the answer to that question.

  You might feel disoriented again. I’ll help you through it.

  She knew he would. And, anyway, last time she’d felt less disoriented—although that was there, too—than overwhelmed with gratitude. And lust for him. Now, she knew it was more than lust. As much as she wanted this man, this god, she also cared for him. Just how much? The night had been such a jumble of emotions, she couldn’t really define what she was feeling. But there was no question that Chrys appealed to more than just her body.

  The house came closer, closer, and then they were inside. The open living room surrounded them, and suddenly she was in her body again. She gasped and swayed. Okay, definitely disoriented, she thought. Hands caught her and held her steady.

  “Breathe through it. I’ve got you.”

  She concentrated on her breathing, on matching hers to his. Except…his was fast, shallow…ragged? His golden light filled her vision, but she forced herself to focus. Finally, part of his face came into view, but the darkness threw too many shadows.

  “Can we turn on some lights?” Somewhere, Finn shook, then he grunted as if stretching after a nap.

  “Yes.”

  Every light in the room illuminated.

  Laney flinched, her gaze cutting from one lamp to the next as her vision adjusted. “Well, that’s…handy.”

  “It’s all just energy.” Heat rolled off Chrys’s big body. His voice was tight, gravelly.

  Maybe so, but it was a magnificent display of power, too. Arousal flowed through her veins, concentrating in the full weight of her breasts, the tingle of her puckered nipples, and the ache of her center. She leaned in, wanting to kiss him. Needing to.

  He slipped her necklace back under her shirt. “Since we’re done traveling for the evening, you can wear this against your skin again.” His fingers lingered on her skin.

  “Okay,” she said, his touch heating her blood. Did he realize what he was doing to her? “You know, I never thanked you for Rolly. In person, that is. I know it’s silly, but I care about those horses like they’re my kids.”

  He dragged his fingers along the collar of her shirt. “It’s not silly. And you’re welcome. It was the least I could do.”

  She released a shaky breath. “Animals never judge, you know? They love unconditionally. I don’t know. I’ve just always had a soft spot for them…” And seeing him treat an injured animal so kindly? It wasn’t just that Chrys was hot and sexy and powerful, she liked who he was, as a person. God. Whatever.

  “Laney?” he said in a raspy voice.

  “Yes?” she whispered.

  “You’re incredibly sexy when you talk about the things you love.”

  The room did a little spinny thing around her. “I am?”

  His heat moved around her, until she felt him along the length of her back. He pushed her hair over one shoulder. “Yes,” he said, his breath ghosting over her skin. “Sharing the wind with you was…” His lips dragged over the sensitive spot behind her ear and he exhaled roughly. “It was an honor.”

  She tilted her head, opening to him and nearly dizzy with anticipation. She’d been wanting him for days. Dreaming of what that might be like.

  Strong arms surrounded her. Large hands splayed across her stomach. Slowly, Chrys moved his hands upward, dragging her shirt with the movement. He cupped her breasts.

  Breathing hard, Laney fell back against his chest. His erection pressed into her lower back. The evidence that he was as affected as she was momentarily stole her breath. A hot thrill shuddered through her. She arched, grinding against his firm flesh behind her and pushing her breasts into his massaging grip.

  A tingle ran down her scalp and neck. Uncomfortable. Alarming. She pulled herself upright and waded through the haze of lust.

  A shadow shifted. No. A light. A black light that deadened everything around it. “Chrys?”

  Maniacal laughter sounded out of the darkness. “Did the three of you really think you could gather unnoticed?” A man’s voice tsked. “I must say, I’m so glad I left her alone before. Because now you get to see each other die.”

  “Get down!” Chrys grabbed Laney just as the black light flared. Suddenly, a light as brilliant as the sun flashed, stealing her remaining sight.

  “No!” she screamed, jumping in front of Chrys. Electricity like a thousand pins and needles slammed into her, surrounded her, sought to penetrate and lay her heart to rest. Paralyzed, she gasped and fought to drag in oxygen. But she couldn’t…she couldn’t…

  And then the world went utterly black.

  …

  “Laney!” Chrys yelled. Oh, no. No! Gods, have mercy.

  For the space of a breath, the whip of lightning engulfed Laney’s whole being, holding her body stiffly aloft, arms strapped at her sides.

  Chrys lunged for her, and the blaze disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. Laney’s unconscious body fell into Chrys’s outstretched arms. He crumpled with her to the floor. The attack of energy had knocked all the lights out, and now the dark appeared pitch black in the wake of the brilliant illumination.

  “Oh, gods. Laney? Can you hear me?” Chest filled with crushing, icy dread, Chrys gently rolled her off him and cradled her too-still, too-hot form in his arms. Muscles lifeless. Mouth lax. He tilted his face toward the heavens. “Eurus! Hear me! My word! My vow! I will fucking kill you if it takes my last breath!” he roared, thunder crashing overhead. But there was no reply. Eurus had gone as quickly as he’d come, a hit and run of pure, malicious evil.

  “Please,” he rasped, pressing his hand over her heart.

  The rapid-fire rhythm revealed the stress of the attack, but it was proof of life that would’ve brought him to his knees if he hadn’t already been on the floor. At her throat, Hephaestus’s amulet glowed. Chrys would never be able to repay that god for the life-saving gift.

  “Laney. Wake up. Come back to me.” He stroked his hand over her feverish forehead.

  Every particle of his being screamed for vengeance, demanded he pursue his brother to the ends of the earth. Further. He had the infernal dagger. By the gods, he would have his revenge. For Laney, for Ella, for all the others Eurus had hurt.

  But not tonight. No matter how his psyche screamed its outrage, his soul was tethered to the woman lying in his arms. Everything else be damned, his duty lay right here.

  What those feelings truly meant, he didn’t allow himself to explore.

  Heaving a deep, shaky breath, Chrys pressed kisses to her cheek. She’d cared for him. She’d stood by him. She’d protected him. One moment, the lightning whipped toward Chrys’s chest. The next, Laney flew in front of the conflagration. Why had she sacrificed herself for him? What had she been thinking? And, now, she fought for her life.

  How dare Eurus lay hands on this woman? She was his and his alone.

  Chrys froze. Where the hell had that come from?

  She wasn’t his. If this night proved anything, it was that Chrys did not deserve Laney Summerlyn. If he could not even protect her, he didn’t have the right to be in her presence at all. And that was on top of a myriad of other reasons why he didn’t deserve her and could never have her. His fucked-up wiring regarding touching. His need to control. The war—for that’s what this now was—that raged around him.

  Needing to see her more clearly, he willed on the lights and dragged gentle fingertips over her cheek. Her shirt and shorts were badly singed. Sweat beaded over her red, puffy skin. And, good gods, was she on the verge of blistering?

  Enough! She needs you!

  Too hot. He had to bring her temperature down. Fast.

  Without a moment’s debate, Chrys willed all of their clothing away. The more of him that touched her, the faster he could syphon the heat from her body.

  He moved to cover her, and hated himself a little more—if that was possible—for having to push through the ancient a
nxiety that gripped him as he anticipated all that skin-on-skin contact.

  His chest settled on her chest. His hips on her hips. His legs covered and surrounded hers.

  Scorching. She was absolutely, intoxicatingly on fire. It would’ve been mind-numbingly arousing if he didn’t know the threat the heat posed to her well-being. Still, blood filled his cock and turned it to steel between them. He gritted his teeth, unable to control his body’s natural reaction to the temperature.

  Breathing deeply, he concentrated on pulling the heat into himself.

  Please let this work. Gods, maybe the amulet hadn’t protected her after all.

  He absorbed what he could. And then he took more. He would take whatever he had to. For her.

  Chrys pulled the energy in until it turned volcanic inside him. Restraining that amount of power had him shaking so hard he feared hurting her. He locked his jaw and muscled through the burn, intent upon his life not to fail at this one thing.

  Come on, Laney! Come back to me.

  Damn his brother to the eternal fields of punishment! And damn himself! This. This was the scenario he’d feared that night he’d yielded to her pleas to stay, to talk. Gods only knew what had prompted Eurus’s return to Summerlyn, but no doubt his interest had been piqued to find Chrys’s energy more prominent than it had been before.

  Eurus might’ve yielded the whip, but this attack—and, dear gods, its consequences—lay at Chrys’s feet. What a fool he’d been to think he could be the source of Laney’s joy he’d felt as he sailed with her on the wind. He had always been a source of destruction. Damnit, that shit went way back, to Chrys’s childhood, to when ancient peoples feared him for the crop-destroying capabilities his storms possessed.

  But, man, while guilt would always eat at a part of him for Eurus’s death, another part—a baser part—would revel in his blood and dance on his fucking bones.

  Laney whimpered and her body came to life beneath him, flinching and tensing.

  Relief and hope flared. But as she continued to fight beneath him, he groaned, too, her movement agonizing against his over-sensitized skin and swollen cock.

  Cooler. She was cooler. Not normal, but not endangered. Thank the gods.

  Her eyelids flickered. Struggled. Opened. Gorgeous blue stared up at him for a long moment, unfocused and unseeing.

  “Chrys,” she gasped, her voice raw. “Oh, Chrys.” Tears welled and spilled down her temples into her hair.

  The physical expression of her pain sliced into him until he could hardly bear it. But he would. Because he deserved it. And because she deserved his strength.

  “Y-you…o-ok-okay?” she asked, adrenaline and shock giving her the shakes.

  Me? He frowned. Surely, the dark hum of the overloaded energy vibrating through him made him mishear her. She couldn’t possibly be asking about—

  “W-was so…so…sc-scared for…you.”

  “Jesus, Laney, you infuriatingly brave, fearless woman. I am fine. Except for my heart, which stopped when he struck you. Except for my soul, which was nearly extinguished when I thought you dead. I am fine, because of you. But you—” Foreign, overwhelming emotion lodged in his throat, choked off the words that tried to form. Words communicating desires he had no business wanting, declaring feelings he didn’t understand and didn’t believe himself capable of, anyway.

  “Back,” she said.

  “What?” he managed.

  “My…” She whimpered and arched under his weight. “So hot. H-hurts.”

  Chrys wrenched up off her. Though her skin still bore a pink flush, the swollen red was gone. And despite everything, she was achingly beautiful, perfectly formed, utterly desirable. He raked his gaze up to hers. “Your back burns?”

  Eyes wide and panicked, she nodded.

  “I’ll fix it, Laney. I promise.”

  Grateful for the soft carpet, he eased her onto her stomach. From neck to heels, her body bore the same distress he’d removed from her front side. It was like the lightning had seared her outside, but hadn’t been able to penetrate within.

  “I’ll fix it,” he whispered again, once more covering her body with his. “Gods,” he gritted out as his chest pressed against her back and his rock hard cock nestled between the soft cheeks of her behind. Her arms lay above her shoulders, and when he covered them with his own, she lifted her hands and laced their fingers together.

  Focus. Focus only on taking in the heat.

  He tried. He really fucking tried. But she was squirming and shuddering and tormenting him with hot, unrelenting friction.

  Almighty Zeus, one shift of his hips and he’d be in her…

  Thunder rumbled overhead. Winds whipped through the trees surrounding the house. Rain fell in loud, fat drops. He couldn’t hold back energy this immense. It must release. Damnit all to Hades, he didn’t want to hurt her further.

  But he was so close to the edge of his control.

  Cooler. She’s cooler. He’d quelled the blaze. “Laney, is it…is it better?” he asked, tremors making it difficult to speak.

  She moaned. “Yes.”

  “I…I have to—” He swallowed hard. “For just a few minutes, I have to go.”

  “What? No!” Despite the hoarseness, the strength of her protest anchored him. “S-stay. Need…you.”

  He dropped his face to her hair. Oh, a mistake. The appealing natural scent of warm citrus infused him, fueling his frantic arousal, making him want more, demand more.

  She arched, grinding her soft ass against his cock.

  One hand flew to her hip, gripping, clutching, restraining. “Be still. I have the barest hold on myself right now.” He hated how terse his words sounded, but couldn’t hold back. The energy had him jacked up ‘til he was nearly instinct alone.

  Get up, get up, get up, he told himself over and over, but he couldn’t gain control over his own base desires. Get in her, get in her, get in her.

  “No,” he growled. He pushed himself up, his body howling in protest until he felt as if two sides of himself warred with one another.

  Laney gasped. “Don’t go.” She pushed up on her elbows and looked over her shoulder. Her eyes had gone a blazing cobalt, wide, expressive, and fiery with a desire he didn’t know if he could resist.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Don’t look at me that way, Laney. I’m so damn close to lifting your hips and burying myself inside you that I’m afraid to move.”

  Heat roared through her, but this time it wasn’t from whatever had attacked her. It was from her pounding desire for the god currently kneeling behind her.

  He was safe. And she was okay. Mostly okay, anyway. And he’d done that for her. He’d taken care of her, just as he promised.

  She didn’t know what had happened in the moments after she saw that awful black light, but she did know they were damn lucky to be alive. And that made Laney not want to waste another moment. There’d be time for explanations later. Now, she wanted him. She wanted him wanting her.

  “Chrys,” she croaked, her throat sore and parched. “Don’t be afraid. I’m not.” Shoving away her nerves, she pushed up onto her hands and knees, the carpet soft underneath. She stopped just shy of grinding herself into what she knew from how he’d laid on her moments before was a massive erection. Adrenaline roared through her until the room spun. His thighs straddling her calves were all she knew, all she could feel.

  Rough hands settled on her hips. “Don’t. Move.” He spat out a curse in that odd language. “Jesus, woman. I’m trying not to hurt you here.”

  She started to turn to him, wanting him to see the sincerity and trust in her face and eyes. Next thing she knew, he’d halted her movement by pinning her wrists against her lower back in one of his big fists. Fear and lust shot through in equal measure. She spoke over her shoulder, “You wouldn’t hurt me, Chrys. You healed me. Again.”

  He tugged her upper body back against his chest, forcing her to arch against him. “You don’t understand what’s about to happen
here,” he whispered, his voice low and gritty. “I don’t make love. I don’t do soft and romantic. I fuck. I dominate. And I restrain my lovers because I can’t stand to be touched. Sure, I get my partners off good, but then I walk out the door. So, whatever fantasy about us you’ve got playing in your head right now is whole solar systems away from my ugly reality.”

  For a long moment, Laney was sure her heart stopped. And then it took off at a full-out gallop that left her breathless. No one had ever talked to her that way. He was just trying to scare her away. Had to be. And, truth be told, she was a little scared. But she was also wetter for him than she’d ever been for another man. Right at this moment, she couldn’t really think about why his tight grip, rough tone, and coarse words set her body on fire, but there it was. Her nipples puckered. The emptiness between her legs ached. After what’d happened, she needed to connect with him, in every way. Arousal flowed so thick through her blood, she’d take him any way she could have him.

  In that moment, she yearned for him, her body, her heart, her soul.

  Laney tilted her face up toward his, his warm glow filling her vision, her nose tracing along the hard angle of his jaw. “I want you however I can have you, Chrysander. I trust you.” And after what they’d just survived, she needed him, she needed the physical proof they’d made it through. Together.

  He blew out a halting breath. “You shouldn’t. Right now, you shouldn’t. The healing…I am overloaded with energy right now. I can’t…I don’t think I can hold back.” His words rasped with arousal and need and pain—all three touched her down deep.

  “Then don’t. I’m not fragile. I won’t break.” She dug for courage. “Don’t believe me? Feel between my legs. That’s what you’re doing to me.” She kissed his jaw, once, twice.

  For a long moment, he didn’t seem to respond, and then the light in the room flared, the air took on a tingly, electrical quality, and Chrys’s muscles tightened everywhere they touched.

  With a groan, he claimed her mouth with a possessive, invasive kiss she felt in every nerve ending. His hand gripped her jaw and forced her to arch further to accommodate the demands of his kiss. His tongue stroked and explored and took her mouth, stealing her breath until dizziness threatened. He wrenched back, breathing hard. “Last chance, Laney.”