by Reid, Stacy
Shilah’s legs trembled, and then she fell. Her body made no impact, instead powerful hands caught her and gathered her close. A finger touched her cheek with exquisite gentleness. Her heart sang when she recognized the familiar, comforting feel of Lachlan. She wanted to wrap her body around his and lose herself in his protective strength. She inhaled deeply. “You came.”
“Always.”
Then the shadows swallowed them, and he took her away.
* * *
Lachlan flowed with the shadows, taking his mate away from the place which had filled her with such an abject sense of despair and betrayal. Picking images of the castle from her thoughts, and how much she had missed the palace, he roiled with the shadows, breaching the fortress and spilling into her palatial chambers. He felt edgy, the sense of terror that he’d lost her still coating his senses. A terrible craving to forge their bond in the most primal way pummeled him. He ruthlessly contained the need, for her, for himself, and because he wanted to show her, he loved her more than anything in his entire world. That she could trust him to place her happiness above anything else.
Her tears wetted the skin of his neck where she’d buried her face, softly sobbing. Lachlan did not disturb her, he merely used memories of her home to fill a large gold inlay bath with steaming water. Her incredibly long and very pale lashes fluttered against his jaw. Her eyes opened, her gaze flicked up to his face, lingered on his mouth for a heart-stopping moment before her eyes met his. He set her gently on her feet and stripped the bloodied garment from her body. Lachlan had the curious sensation of tumbling forward. He wanted to drag her into his arms and kiss her forever, but he only stooped and removed her boots. With a swirl of the shadows, he could have her undressed within a second, but he wanted to savor touching her. How he’d missed her.
After removing her boots and every strip of blood-soaked clothing, he stood and loosened the tightly braided plait her hair had been caught in. The entire time she watched him, with huge, somber eyes. Her small teeth bit nervously at her lip, drawing his attention to the fullness of her soft mouth.
The softest of hands touched his cheek. “Hello, Lachlan Ravenswood.” Then with a sigh, she hugged him, tightly, breathing in his scent, and releasing the air of fear that had lingered within her. Trust flavored her senses, and he returned her fierce embrace.
With a swirl of the shadows, he immersed her in the spacious bath.
Large, heart-stoppingly vulnerable eyes peered up at him. “Will you not join me?”
Another pulse of shadows and he was in the bath, naked, with her sitting astride him. Her eyes were wide pools of pain and haunting emotions. Their link flowed with energy, with her raw power as she sank into his mind seeking comfort. He held her, offering her warmth and protection without asking anything in return.
“I killed them,” she whispered. “Men and women I’ve known my whole life without offering them the benefit of a trial as our law demands.”
“You defended your life.” And saved them from a far worse death than what he would have subjected them to if he’d arrived and found her lifeless body.
“I cannot stay here in Serange.”
“If you wish to remain and govern your kingdom, I will ensure it is done.”
A watery laugh slipped from her. “I want to be at your side, loving you now and forever. The laws that I fought so hard to uphold will require Kala to be crowned Dyxriah’s ruler. I…I will advise her and help her select the team needed to shepherd her into her rule, but when that is all over I want to live where ever you are, Lachlan Ravenswood, for I love you, quite desperately.”
Everything in him—every thought, every one of his senses, arrowed on every nuance of her face.
“I entrust my heart to you,” his mate vowed softly, her eyes soft with love.
His heart pounded, and his mouth went dry. His body burned for her, an unmerciful, relentless, savage need. “And I will keep it, always.”
She smiled, and her happiness burned along their thread. The chain of their link curled around their body like the whip of dark silver fire.
“Life in the Darkage will not be easy. The seven kingdoms will march to war soon. But I promise you, I will protect you with every breath in my body, always. Your life and happiness will always be my priority.”
She leaned in and brushed her lips against his, then lower over his jaw. Her tongue was like a stroke of silk across his skin. She barely touched him, featherlight, but it was the most sensual sensation he’d ever experienced.
“And I promise you the same, Lachlan Ravenswood. I am not as soft and fragile as I seem. I will guard your happiness and soul with every breath in my body, and you’ll have my love forever.”
Her voice caressed him like a physical touch, soft, smoky, soothing, sensual, and the darkness within was content.
“I must warn you, I do plan to stay in Dxyriah to aid my sister for several days, and to register for exile. I do plan to visit Serange often, and my sister, if it will be allowed.”
“It will be,” he promised, working very hard to keep his tone mild, and not to echo the brutal resolve flowing through his veins. Anything that would cause her unhappiness was a threat.
She rested her forehead against his. “How I ache for you.” Then she reached between them and took his length in her soft palms. She couldn’t encircle his width with the delicate fingers of one hand, so she held his cock with both hands, shimmered down and lowered her mouth toward his jutting length which had risen above the water. His entire body clenched, anticipation shivering through him. That first hot stroke of her tongue had a growl slipping from him.
He pulled her up, his hands no longer gentle, though he fought to keep from bruising her with his strength.
“You forget your blood has changed me, touch me without the fear that I might break,” she teased, brushing against his mind with sweetness and passion.
He twisted with her, and she braced her hands on the bath. Gripping one edge of the tub, he braced his weight above her, using his other hand Lachlan arched her hips from the water and trailed his lips over the sparkling droplets of water down to her belly button so his tongue could take a leisurely dip. He went lower, tasting and breathing her aroused fragrance into his lungs. He lapped at her wet sex with a gentleness he hadn’t thought himself capable of, especially given the hunger flaming through his body.
“Lachlan!” She moaned his name in a needy voice that threatened to shatter his rigid control.
Rising above her, he flowed with the shadows, so she was once again on top, her knees bracketing his hips in the bath. He curved her body to his, pressed his length against her wet, scalding entrance and thrust upward. He entered her slowly, inch by, deliberately slow, inch, holding her still until she was seated fully on his throbbing length. Everything was wet, tight heat and pleasure so intense his entire body trembled.
“I love you,” she gasped, the stars in her eyes fracturing, powerful emotions pouring through their link, which had wrapped around them, burning them with fire.
He gripped her lush ass in his palms, urging her up, and then down, lifting her and dropping her again and again, gritting his teeth at the sublime ecstasy of her tight sheath. Her muscles clenched on his cock as he whispered his words of love against her lips. “I could taste you forever and need nothing else to sustain me, my mate.” Not blood, or negative energy. Just this woman herself.
Their minds merged. Her soul invaded his, peeling him down to the barest essence—the man linked within the darkness. She rode him, slow, but deep, her eyes opened on his. Her body was damp with sweat, her cheeks were flushed pink, her lips glistened with his taste, and her eyes burned with love and passion. The ache of her slow ride was sweet and terrible. His mate trembled, her breath coming in shallow, ragged gasps. She took him, with slow, provocative rolls of her hips, their eyes connected, never closing, even when the pleasure threatened their sanity.
Passion rocked his body with jarring force. He curled his fingers a
round the nape of her neck and drew her closer. When he sank his fangs into the curve of her throat, he was gentle, showing restraint when he wanted to devour her. He drew her exquisite taste into him, and he fed her mind with his need of her, his love of her, and his promise that she would always be cherished.
He lifted his head. Her blood seeped from the two pinpricks and trickled down the creamy slope of her breast to her taut nipple. He cupped her breasts in his hands, his thumbs brushing her nipples before he dipped his head and licked the blood from their berry ripeness.
A deep hum reverberated through their link and her scream of release rippled through his mind, and wetness bathed his cock. He pulled her closer, caging her in his arms, gliding his hand down her back to the curve of her buttocks where he gripped her.
“Ride harder.”
A small keening moan escaped her throat at his command. She grew slicker, her heart pounded, the scent of her arousal got spicier. Her fingers gripped his hair, and she rode him, sliding her wet, yet impossibly tight pussy over his aching length.
The temptation of tasting him was a dark whisper in her soul.
“Drink of me.”
She dipped her head and kissed along the corded muscles of his shoulder. Small, wickedly sharp fangs struck his neck. Lightning sizzled through his body. He jerked, water sloshed from the bath onto the floor. Another shockwave of pleasure washed through her and ecstasy crashed upon their senses. She shuddered, her pleasure ripping through her life fire as she climaxed on his cock, dragging his release from deep inside him.
He rolled over dipping into the shadows, taking her with him so that she sprawled across his chest as he appeared on her enormous bed. The smell of lavender and honeysuckle mixed with sex, hot and wild, lingered on the air and on her body. Satisfaction rumbled from him, and she smiled.
Lachlan wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly. In the war to come, he would protect his love with all means possible.
“I know you will, but you won’t have to. I won’t be soft. I’ll be the steel to your blade even when it is merciless, the light to your darkness, and I will be your queen in all ways when needed.”
He’d never felt more content—or more complete.
The End
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Lachlan and Shilah’s journey to Happy Ever After. I am sending a huge thank you to everyone who messaged asking me about The Amagarians. Your encouraging kind words, love, and patience have meant the world to me. My health has been an albatross for the last several years, and I’ve been slower than I want to be. But I thank God every day that I have such fantastic support from my husband, family, friends, and fans.
This is the series of my heart, and while I’d wish to have more Amagarians out, my health will always come first even if that means stop writing for a while, but I will always resume once I am better. I am delighted to say my aim for the next few years is to grow this series to the full potential I have always imagined. And that potential ranges from exploring the seven kingdoms of Amagarie, the legends of Darkans (vampires, werewolves) on Earth, and Sci-Fi stories featuring heroes and heroines from the world of Serange and others in their galaxy.
The next book in the Amagarian series will continue with the witch Amirah’s journey to love in Eternal Promise or Eternal Abomination (I am still undecided which title is best). A novella featuring Xian and Gavyn, with lots of peeks on how Tehdra and Ajali have been doing in Eternal Phoenyx, will be released the same month as Eternal Promise/Abomination.
I’ve received dozens of messages asking me about King Gidon Al Shar’s book. I promise you, he will be getting his story. I need to find the woman capable of loving a man such as Gidon, though I believe I’ve already found her in the Kingmaker’s daughter. I will be releasing a novella, Darkness Rising: Gidon, showing a peek of his life before he was king, the history of how he lost his family and became bonded with his pack of beasts—the Cerberus. His full book, Eternal Legacy will be released a few books after that.
