by Reid, Stacy
“I do not understand, why aren’t you fighting with the beast in you?”
“You obliterated the threads that held the barrier. There can never be a division again. This goes beyond a bonding.”
For a moment she struggled to understand who the primal throb of satisfaction came from, the man or the monster. She searched the threads of his memories, moving through with light agility. “That has never happened before in your history,” she breathed in shock. “Normally when the beast takes control, the thread of the barrier still exists even though the demon is in control. And when your people bond with their beasts, there is an alliance between man and demon, reliance on each other, a barrier away from the darkness when the host wishes it. But you are not that….”
Acting on instincts, she rolled on top of him, her knees pressing down on each side of his waist and peered down at him. His eyes now held a swirl of gold, blue, purple, green and black, still held the cast of the serpent, and his face while impossibly beautiful and sensual, held a cruel edge. “Your beast has manifested in you in a manner never seen before. That is why your friends were so apprehensive.”
Her fingers stroked his hair and began to make small circles over his temples. “Let me try and help you build back that thread. I am an imperial telepath. Maybe there is a way to reverse what I did.”
“I am what I am.”
A calm, brutal acceptance Shilah would never comprehend. She couldn’t find air to drag into her lungs for precious seconds. “If what I am reading from your memories Lachlan Ravenswood is correct, in Darkans who are bonded, they have absolute control over their psychic wall and let the demon out and cage it at their will. You do not have that. I took that from you,” she said fiercely, tears pricking from behind her eyes. “What peace will you ever have but to be eternally damned?”
“I have you, my mate.” My soul. My sanity. My everything.
Her breath hitched in her throat as her mind caught the center of his thoughts. Another rough sound escaped. “Your soul, Lachlan Ravenswood?”
“My soul has been branded as unredeemable at my birth, but you are my light, my mate.”
And at that moment Shilah knew, once he touched her, claimed her, made her part of him, she would be irrevocably lost. She started to tremble. “I must return to my realm, I cannot stay in the land of shadows and darkness.” But how he made her crave to abandon the solitary life she would confine herself to once she returned to her world. But I’ll save thousands of lives, she fiercely reminded herself.
“I agree.”
“I did not expect you to so readily agree to me leaving the Darkage.”
“The empire will not take lightly to losing you. Even without your Imperial powers, Serangites are coveted. There are traitors within our walls, working with the kingmaker who has aligned himself with Emperor Khan. They can strike at you anytime. It is best you return to Serange as soon as possible. I will come with you, my mate. And you will have your army to take back your crown.”
“And what of King Gidon and the ones who wish to take his head?”
“I will return to the Darkage when he has need of me.”
She smiled, relief lifting her heart. With him by her side, Prince Quan would have no choice but to abdicate. “And I would like you by my side Lachlan Ravenswood, thank you.”
She desperately wanted to lean in and take his mouth with her but held back out of uncertainty. The deep attraction confused her. Her reason for being in Amagarie had nothing to do with taking a lover, only the freedom of her people. Yet there was an undeniable hunger in her body for this man, and she would deny it no longer. “Kiss me, Lachlan Ravenswood.”
The ground beneath them roiled, and something unknown trembled on the air.
“No!” The force of her sister’s scream roared through her mind and had Shilah scrambling from off him, lurching to her feet.
“A decision has been made.”
Fear seized her throat as her sister’s voice hissed with terrifying promise as she foresaw the future.
“Queen of darkness you shall become. I see upon your head a crown of snakes and thorns. Your mercy and love will be our kingdom’s downfall.”
Shilah gasped. “Mercy and love for Lachlan?” she demanded.
Kala continued without pause, “At Lachlan Ravenswood’s feet, blood will flow, and bodies will drop from the castle in the sky as he slaughters. If you pledge your love to him, our people will know true suffering, and it will be endless.”
There was a choked cry and then she said, “Please Shilah, run!”
15
Shilah ran away from him, sprinting down the hilly slope, uncaring of where she dashed, the flowing length of the sari twisting around her legs. Her side ached, and she did not stop until she stumbled. A lake stood in front of her, the hovering darkness overwhelming, the aura of the creatures in the depths of the water creating a bright shimmering surface atop the lake. Trees hung over the swollen banks of the lake, the purple aura of their gnarled roots covering the ground in snake-like patterns. The great torches in the distance were a small beacon, but she pulsed forth her kinetic energy, creating a silver-white glow around her. She tasted such awful fear in her mouth. “Kala, what does it mean?”
“Lachlan Ravenswood must never be allowed into Serange.”
“He has promised to help me, providing the army we need to root Prince Quan from our kingdom.”
“Another way must be found, Shilah!”
“You said my mercy and love will be our kingdom’s downfall, do you speak of the feelings growing in my heart for him?”
There was a tense pause, and Kala said, “I cannot see. Let us leave this place soon, sister. We must find another way.”
Shilah closed the connection with her sister, hating the sense of helpless rage that filled her. Taking back her throne was not worth the cost of the pain in her sister’s vision. If she returned to Dxyriah with Lachlan and his promised army, her people’s blood would stain the streets and the mountains. Why? How might her love and compassionate nature lead to such an awful outcome?
Suddenly he was there, the warmth of his body penetrating the chill that wrapped around her earlier. She sensed when he bent his head, felt the brush of his lips against her hair, the warmth of his breath on the nape of her neck. “If I ask you to promise you will never hurt my people, what would be your answer?” she asked hoarsely.
“Whatever you wish will be done.”
She did not allow relief to fill her, instead asking, “And if they should hurt me in the fight to reclaim my kingdom? Will your promise stand?”
He needn’t answer for a wave of violence and retribution flowered through her along their link. She closed her eyes and spun to face him. “You cannot return with me to Serange.”
He caught her chin between his thumb and finger in a firm grip. “Why?”
Her gaze jumped to his. “My sister is a foreseer, and she has visions of you killing hundreds in my kingdom. And her visions have always come to fruition. Those are my people. I love them, and I must protect them even at the cost of my own desires.”
His eyes watched her, but he made no reply.
“I cannot vow to stay and accept your claim. Do not demand it of me.”
A low growl rumbled warningly through the night, and she tipped and pressed her finger against his lips. “I want you…more than I desire my next breath. I crave you with an intensity that petrifies me. I want to feel pleasure, I want to feel alive as only your touch has ever made me feel in all my two hundred and six years alive. I want to bask in something other than the doubts and fear I feel for my people and the path I am on. I want to feel. I want to burn. And I want you to give it to me, Lachlan Ravenswood for another has never awakened this hunger I feel.”
The tension swirled and thickened around them.
Shilah brushed her mind against their telepathic thread. She found a hunger so deep, so wild, so urgent, it scared her, even as it called to somewhere deep inside. She couldn’
t rely on him to help her take back her throne. Somehow, she had to do this herself. Queen of darkness you shall become. If she submitted to his claim Shilah sensed with her entire being she would be changed. But she could make love with him without handing over her soul, and the destruction of her kingdom, couldn’t she? She closed her eyes, blotting out the utterly foolish thought. This man would not take in part and be satisfied. He was a conqueror, and he would demand her irrevocable surrender—to the man, the monster, and everything he represented.
“I will give you one night,” she said softly. “To hold me, to love me, and then I must leave. If you swear to let me go after….”
A burst of lust swept from him and covered her. He smoothed the pad of his thumb along the curve of her lower lip, ensuring his claws did not split her lips. He was going to kiss her, she could feel it, and how desperately she wanted his lips against her. Logic didn’t seem to have a place in her heart at the moment. “Say something, Lachlan Ravenswood.”
His head dipped, and he pressed his mouth against hers. And she wanted to weep at how gentle he was. They stilled, and her lips trembled against his. A very strange but sweet twisting ache stirred in her belly, and her heart quickened.
He traced the curves of her breasts, sliding down to explore her tiny waist before moving down to the swell of her hips. “I like touching you, Shilah.”
The sting of his claws had her flinching. He withdrew his hand, a frown slashing his brows as he stared at the wicked claws jutting from his fingers. Shilah felt his fierce concentration along their link. Power surged, and right before her eyes, his claws retracted.
She pressed her hands to his chest, moving even closer to him. “I like touching you too.” Their mental connection leaped, burned to life in a pulse of silver-blue aura. Though her eyes remained closed, her lips pressed to his, their bodies unmoving, and she could see the image of them standing by the lake, a strange aura surrounding them clear in her mind. The silver-blue glow around them, expanded, and the nearby flowers which had been covered in darkness now burst into bright colors.
Her fingers slid over his face, the angles, and planes, memorizing his features. If only she could have him for a brief while.
Queen of darkness you shall become.
Pushing aside that forbidding prophecy, she leaned deeper into his kiss, parting her lips to his slow licks and nibbling.
“My mate.” This brush against her mind felt deeper, more intimate, and she opened her physic eye peeking at the thread through which they connected. An arrow of shock darted through her as a smoldering burn seared her belly and flared through her core with a dark heat that threatened to consume her. She ached. She got wet. And he inhaled.
“I want your pussy on my tongue mate. Let me lap you up.”
A rip vibrated on the air as he rent the top of her sari from her body. Hot lips trailed along her jaws, her neck, and along her exposed breasts. With a blink of the shadows, she was on her back, lying on the grass, his powerful body coming down over hers. The hungriest of eyes devoured her naked breast.
A gentle breeze washed over the hill, and Shilah smelled the rain, inhaled the scent of it, then felt the cold drops on her skin. A groan of thunder rumbled, the ominous sound a portent for her possible future. She slid her legs up his pants, loving the feel of his muscles, and over to his hips to lock them behind his back. To keep her ankles locked behind his back, her hips arched sharply upwards, flushing her wet, pulsing core directly against the hardened ridge of his cock.
He groaned. She sighed. And they kissed.
She looped her hands around his neck and held on. Shilah became lost entirely in the taste, the scent, and the feel of him. His skin stretched, the tattoo slid sinuously along his body and hers, and she did not flinch from it but coasted the tip of her finger over his back and up to his shoulders. Ropes of muscle rippled and twisted beneath her gentle glide, and she felt the dark predator in him rise, incinerating the leash that caged the storm in her arms.
Water dripped from his body onto hers and trailed between the valley of her breasts and down her belly to the junction between her legs. Shilah parted her lips, letting the drops wet her mouth, hoping it would cool the burning hunger erupting inside.
“I could consume you,” he breathed against her lips.
Their kiss changed as his mouth slanted over hers with sensual, domineering mastery. He rolled with her, never breaking the fusion of their hungry kiss until she was seated on top of him. Cold brushed against her skin as he ripped the bottom part of her sari away, and strong hands palmed her ass and squeezed.
He pushed a hand between the tight fit of their bodies, trailing his fingers down to touch her wet center. He slid a finger inside her, a slow penetration that arrowed a thousand darts of fire to burn her from the inside.
The sky cracked, and icy rain lashed at her skin, but Shilah was too drunk on pleasure and the promise of more to come to care. Around them, the forest had become another world. The sound of the rain was a soft rhythm, the soft lash of it against her skin a pleasure of its own. He slid her up his torso, broke their kiss, and with another swirl of the darkness he was once again on top, and she was pressed into the earthy scent of wet grass, her legs split wide as he settled between her splayed thighs.
Shilah shook with fear and pleasure as he captured her nipples and pulled firmly. The sting of lust was deep, and so were the bites of pain as fangs scraped and pierced her nipple. He lifted his head at her cry and Shilah trembled at the lust that darkened his eyes and wafted from his chakra.
Arousal shivered through her as he ripped away the silk garment that protected her core. His knuckles brushed against her outer lips of her wet sex, and Shilah swallowed back the moan at the surge of desire his action caused.
“I want you so much I burn, but I do not want to hurt you. I am so much bigger than you are, so much more brutal.”
His voice whispered in her mind. Caressing her insides, calming her fear, and allowing her to control the mass of energy churning through her veins. “I only fear you will stop touching me.”
Another swirl of shadows and she was in a room. The fireplace burned brightly, and the room felt warm and inviting. It was a bedchamber, and right in the middle sat a large, canopied bed with green layers of heavy curtains around it.
Smooth silk glided against her skin as her back pressed into the bed, and he was naked. His speed was incredible. “I love how you move with me.”
She braced on her elbows, crawling backwards to the center of the bed, never removing her gaze from the man standing at the foot of the bed. Shilah was bemused by his sheer sensual beauty. Her gaze traveled up his body, admiring the ripples of muscle over his stomach, the power of his thighs. Her eyes centered on the thick erection straining from between his thighs, hanging low. Her lungs refused to draw air. He was thick and significantly larger than the one consort she’d had.
“Draw your knees up.” The words were a soft, gentle whisper in her mind.
She glanced up at his face. He was beautiful and so gracefully savage.
“Open them wide…I want to see the pink folds of your pussy.”
The voice was a throb of carnal intent, and Shilah whimpered, her body reacting with a tidal wave of pure fire. Yet she could not move, her limbs too weak with lust to obey. Suddenly he was on the bed, crouching on his knees before her. He looked so powerful and predatory, reminding her just how fragile and softer she was to him. His hands spread her thighs. He didn’t speak, simply positioned her with his hands. She felt her sex bloom like a flower under his stare.
“A beautiful pussy,” he said, his voice a deep, rich growl. A slow smile softened the hard edge to his mouth. “I will be fucking you all night, my mate.”
It was a promise, a warning, and her body reacted to him, going soft and pliant, her sex wetter. She was so lost in him already. Shilah moistened her lips, wanting to answer, but no sound would come out. She took a breath and breathed him into her lungs—dark and earthy, like
a storm itself.
He brushed a kiss over her mouth again. Her lips trembled in response. He savored her taste, her moans, then he consumed and ravished, taking her lips with shocking carnality. He seemed to feed at her mouth, kissing her again and again. Desire crawled through her body, and between her legs, she could feel the hot dampness spreading. Claws bursts from his fingers as he flicked them over her nipples eliciting a sensation that she was not sure if it created pleasure or pain.
His mouth trailed fire across her stomach to the silken triangle at the junction of her legs. Tiny bites, the scrape of his canines dragged along her inner thighs before his tongue stroked over her wet, aching pussy. Her hoarse scream strangled in her throat. The roughness of his tongue created the most delicious friction, causing shards of pleasure so sharp it was nearly painful. He licked her drenched sex, forcing a piercing pleasure through her swollen clit every time he caught it with his tongue in a rough glide.
Her clit swelled with aching hunger…and right there, he licked it, sucked it into his mouth and destroyed her.
“Lachlan,” Shilah screamed, her hips arching off the bed, fisting her fingers in his hair as sensations tore through her body.
His claws retracted once more, and he slipped a finger inside her, then another finger joined the first then, burning her with bliss as his mouth suckled her clit, his tongue flicking, pressing, ravishing her. A ragged moan burst from her when he added a third finger, working into her, stretching her, and she shuddered under the shockwaves of pleasure.
The next moment she was lifted against the muscles of his stomach, braced wide with one leg on each side of his muscular hips. He reached between them, fisted his cock, and pressed it against her sex, and pushed. Her breath gasped from her at the burning sensation. Her abundant slickness barely eased his way, but he’d only slid quarter way inside of her before the tightness of her body stopped him. He was too wide for her. Lachlan gripped her ass with both hands, and she clasped onto his bulging arms, as he arched her up more, splaying her legs even wider. His powerful grip stung the soft flesh of her bottom, and she trembled.
