And she knew he felt the same.
The darkness swept past her, covering the helipad and focusing on her enemy. Gregori’s magic stuttered, faltering and shrinking away, growing small and weak, tiny strings that hid on the far side of his forearms. His eyes lightened to red.
Lealandra focused, using all of her remaining strength to control the world that she was opening, a world of darkness and shadows where spirits were born and fed upon those who strayed into their land. A place where Gregori would become a feast, his magic drawing the creatures to him, his power his downfall.
“No,” Gregori hissed and backed away but it was too late.
The shadows moved around him, taking form in the darkening night. The stars winked out of existence above them and nothingness blanketed the lights of the world. Not an absence of something but a presence, a joining of worlds, a shift that Taig had made possible.
This wasn’t a weak version of the shadow world as Gregori had created and used to torture her, and it was stronger than the form of the world that Taig had opened before. This was the shadow world brought to Earth in its entirety so the strongest darkest creatures that inhabited it could come forth and it was difficult to contain, even with Taig’s power flowing through her and controlling it.
Twisted shapes rose up from the shadows, contorting into new forms, jagged creatures that she could see through and that she feared. She held that fear inside, knowing instinctively that if she showed it, they would turn their attention to her too.
Lealandra glanced over her shoulder at Taig. He stood behind her in his larger demon form, dark brown scaly skin covering his muscular bare body, his thick arms folded across his broad chest. He snarled, exposing his sharp teeth to the gum, and narrowed his eyes on Gregori. They burned brightly, flickering in time with the flames that danced at his back. The inferno silhouetted his massive dragon-like wings and reflected off the twin horns that curled from the back of his head. Hell. It stood there for her to see, a fiery pit of despair and destruction that caused a chill to creep over her skin. A place she had promised herself that she would go to in order to find Taig’s parents. It frightened her now that she saw it but she would still go there, for his sake, to heal his pain and end his uncertainty.
Beyond the flames, there was infinite darkness. The shadow world. The unspeakable horror that Taig had helped her call to this world.
Taig’s power wrapped around her, masking her presence with his own and rendering her invisible to the creatures. Her magic would be just as alluring as Gregori’s. She turned back to him. No matter how much her skin crawled or how deep her fear went, she had to remain calm and within Taig’s reach. She had called this world to her own. She had to face it and see what it was that she had done.
The shadow spirits wound themselves around Gregori’s legs. He blasted them with spells, one after the other, but to no avail. Any shadow that he hit divided and became two, and those two rose up to bring him down, clawed black fingers stretching for him, scratching at his clothes and dragging him down into their waiting mass.
It was as though the night itself was swallowing him. He fought hard, desperate bright coloured blasts of high-level spells that drained him. She sensed his magic recede, felt the moment it gave out and left him no more than mortal, watched as the shadows dug their claws into his shoulders and pulled him down, covering him, drowning him, and then she turned away and buried her face into Taig’s chest, hiding there as Gregori’s scream rent the still night air.
Strong arms folded around her and then there was silence. Warmth suffused her as Taig’s wings closed over her back, completely surrounding her, and he pressed a kiss to her hair. The twisted dark connection within her to the shadows snapped and she sensed the air lift, her world returning to fill the gap she had created in it.
Her magic relinquished control as Taig’s power left her and she collapsed against his dark scaly chest. He held her close and tightly, protecting her in a way that would always make her smile and make her feel safe. She held on to him in return, her hands against his bare ridged back. The feel of his demon skin beneath her palms didn’t frighten her. She clung to him and felt the love in his strong embrace. She could never fear Taig. She only feared losing him. The skin beneath her fingers smoothed and warmed, and she knew that he was changing back, regaining his human form. The darkness within her faded, stealing away the evil words that had danced around her mind and the sense that she was drowning in the shadows along with Gregori.
She looked up at Taig to find him smiling at her, a cocksure one that barely tugged at the corners of his lips.
“You can come out now, nothing frightening out here except me.”
Lealandra didn’t let him go. She held on to him and stared deep into his eyes, watching the way they flickered red like flames. Her eyes half-closed when Taig touched her cheek, lightly brushing his fingers over it, and smiled wide. It didn’t alleviate the worry she could feel in him, or the hint of it in his eyes.
“You okay?” he said with a small frown. She nodded.
“More than okay.” She rested her head against his soft chest. He unfurled his wings and they shrank into his back. The chill night air washed over her, calming her. Looking around, she saw no sign of Gregori or the shadows. They were gone. She didn’t know where to and she didn’t want to know. Whatever gate Taig had opened, it had been to a place far worse than where Gregori had sent her. She would never see him again. It was over.
The twinkling lights of the city grew dim in the distance where the sky was lightening. She could sense the sunrise coming and it drained the remaining strength from her. Turning back to Taig, she held her smile inside when she saw that he was naked, standing unabashed and watching the sunrise as the wind tousled his dark hair. He really was divine like that but she didn’t want others to see what was for her eyes only. She clicked her fingers and his black jeans encased his legs, his boots reappeared, and his black t-shirt moulded itself back onto his delicious broad muscular torso.
Taig shot her a smile, lifted her into his arms and unfurled his wings again, tearing through the t-shirt she had so carefully constructed. She pressed a hand to his chest to stop him from leaving with her. She couldn’t leave yet. She desired nothing more than to sleep in peace with him, to recover her lost strength and power, but she had unfinished business. She couldn’t leave the coven without a leader and they would look to her now.
“Tell me you’re not staying.” Taig frowned and she smiled and rubbed her thumb between his eyes, smoothing away the crease it had caused.
“Never. I don’t want to be their leader, but I can’t leave right now without making sure that everything is over and that they’ll be okay without me.” She could feel that the war below her feet had ended, that the witches had felt the loss of their leader and stopped fighting one another, and that it wouldn’t be long before some of her side came to the helipad to see if it was true. She would wait for them here in Taig’s arms and then together they would decide what would happen to the coven now.
She owed them that.
Taig rolled his eyes. “And the victory sex?”
Lealandra smiled up at him and looped her arms around his shoulders. “As soon as you’re ready mister.”
He grinned. “I’m always ready for a fight or a f—”
Lealandra cut him off with a glare. He gave her an innocent look, his now black eyes twinkling with it. He could pull that face all he liked but it wasn’t going to change her mind.
“I want more than that,” she said and he frowned again.
“More than what?”
“Than screwing.”
Taig rolled his eyes again but she knew he wasn’t unnerved by what she was asking or about to refuse any kind of commitment. He lowered her back onto her feet and touched the mark on her arm, staring at it. It tingled. There was such heat in his look but so much love and tenderness too. He was happy that she wore his mark.
Lealandra moved his hand away and stroked the intricate red li
nes of the mark. It still looked like a heart to her. She stared into Taig’s eyes.
“What does it mean?”
“You’re mine for everyone to see... just like our deal stated.”
Her gaze fell to the mark on her left arm again. It was petty revenge for what she had done to him. Typical of Taig. Or wasn’t it revenge? The things he had whispered during her ascension came back to her and her cheeks blazed and heart burned. Maybe he was using marking her to make them equal as an excuse to claim her as his. That was definitely just like him.
“It’s permanent.” He stroked the mark, his touch so light it tickled and a warm shiver raced through her. “I guess we’re stuck with each other... a demon hunter and one of the World’s most powerful witches. We make one hell of a combination and one hell of a team. Not a soul in this world will like us.”
He hesitated.
Lealandra’s eyes locked with his ebony ones. She had waited for this moment for six long years and she wasn’t going to rush him now that he was on the precipice of saying what she wanted to hear. The black spikes of his hair drifted across his forehead, tousled by the chilly morning breeze, and an awkward look settled on his face for a moment before his expression turned serious.
“You know I’m crazy about you, sweet cheeks. I know I can be hard to handle sometimes and I can tell you now that it won’t be easy, but how about all that stuff we talked about the other night?”
Lealandra fought to keep her expression blank and expectant even when she wanted to smile over what he had said. It was his way of telling her that he loved her but she wasn’t about to let him get away without saying it straight.
“I think you can do better than that.”
His look turned boyish and then his lips curved into a sexy smile that had her heart galloping and her legs trembling.
“I love you,” he whispered and took hold of her hand. His thumb swept over her knuckles.
Lealandra smiled into his eyes. “I love you too.”
Taig pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Her eyes closed as his lips played against hers, a slow sensual dance that had her body heating through and aching for him. She leaned into the kiss, eager for more and desperate to feel him against her, here in this moment with her.
Six years ago, she had found her balance with him and so much more besides. If she hadn’t been so convinced that a demon couldn’t be her Counter-Balance, she would have recognised Taig was her true other half back then. She smiled against his lips and wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight and swearing never to let him go now that she had him. Taig was her balance, the other half of her soul, the only man strong enough to love her. Now they were together again and she thanked fate for giving her a second chance with the man she loved.
Breaking the kiss, she looked deep into his black eyes and touched her mark on his arm. His hand covered hers. He smiled at her, sinfully handsome and making her heartbeat quicken as he always did.
She was finally home again, back with the man she loved, and she couldn’t wait to spend some quiet time with him at his estate in England, settling into her new life. First, she wanted to learn more about her power and find a deeper harmony with it, and something told her that the witches Taig had spoken of could help her do just that. Once she was more in control of her power, at one with it, she was going to drag Taig’s backside down into the underworld to find out what had happened to his parents. Deep in her heart, she was sure that they hadn’t chosen to leave him, and she hoped that they would be alive and that she could reunite Taig with them.
They would make it into Hell and back again without a problem. Taig would be able to hold his own in the underworld, she had no doubt about that, and she was a lot more powerful now. He was right. They did make one hell of a combination and one hell of a team, and not a bad guy in the world up here or down there was going to be safe from them.
With devastation surrounding them, a dark and bloody history behind them and an undoubtedly exhilarating future ahead of them, Lealandra’s world felt strangely balanced at last.
“So, how about it? You up for a little trouble?” Taig stroked her cheek, his dark gaze holding hers, mesmerising her.
Did she want to partner with a sexy, sarcastic demon who she was crazy about and throw herself into the path of danger every night for the thrill of hunting?
It beat the hell out of sitting around a coven waiting for something to happen.
And victory sex was fantastic.
A slow smile teased her lips and she looped her arms around his neck, drawing him in for a long heated kiss.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The End
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Felicity Heaton writes passionate paranormal romance books as Felicity Heaton and F E Heaton. In her books she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons!
If you're a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books too.
If you love your angels a little dark and wicked, Felicity Heaton’s best selling Her Angel series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm series she writes as F E Heaton or any of her stand alone vampire romance books she writes as Felicity Heaton. Or if you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try Felicity Heaton’s new Vampire Erotic Theatre series.
In 2011, four of her six paranormal romance books received Top Pick awards from Night Owl Reviews, Forbidden Blood was nominated as Best PNR Vampire Romance 2011 at The Romance Reviews, and many of her releases received five star reviews from numerous websites.
To see her other novels, visit: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk
If you have enjoyed this story, please take a moment to contact the author at [email protected] or to post a review of the book online
Follow the author on:
Her blog – http://www.indieparanormalromancebooks.com
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PARANORMAL ROMANCE BOOKS BY FELICITY HEATON
Stories in the Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series by Felicity Heaton
Covet
Crave – out March 10th 2012
Seduce – out June 23rd 2012
Enslave – out August 4th 2012
Stories in the Her Angel series by Felicity Heaton
Her Dark Angel
Her Fallen Angel
Her Warrior Angel
Her Guardian Angel
Her Demonic Angel – out September 15th 2012
Stories in the Vampires Realm series by F E Heaton
Prophecy: Child of Light
Prophecy: Caelestis & Aurorea
Prophecy: Dark Moon Rising
Eternity: The Beginning (free short story available at the VR website: www.vampiresrealm.com)
Spellbound
Reunion
Seventh Circle
Winter's Kiss
Hunter's Moon
Masquerade – out May 12th 2012
Stand alone paranormal romance novels by Felicity Heaton
Love Immortal
Ascension
Forbidden Blood
Heart of Darkness
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
About the Author
Paranormal Romance Books by Felicity Heaton
Copyright
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2011 Felicity Heaton
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written consent of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
The right of Felicity Heaton to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First printed April 2011
First Edition
Layout and design by Felicity Heaton
All characters in this publication are purely fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Cover by Felicity Heaton
Ascension Page 27
