Savage Legacy

by Lora Leigh

  It was too erotic, too sexual. But she wanted to. She wanted to watch his face as she did as asked, see if his eyes could get darker, hotter.

  “Not yet,” he whispered. “This time is for you. So I can see what brings you pleasure. See with your hands how you wish to be touched. Do this, Ariel. Touch your lips.”

  Her hands uncurled. Just her lips, she assured herself. She would touch only her lips.

  She watched him, dazed, her body on fire as her fingers moved to her lips. She touched two to her lips, her tongue peeking out to dampen them, to ease their movements along the warm curves. His eyes narrowed, his broad chest rising and falling harshly now as his hands flexed on her thighs.

  What was he seeing? she wondered, as her fingers caressed her lips, feeling the swollen, passion-filled curves. They were plumper than they should have been, ready, prepared for his kiss.

  “I love kissing you,” he whispered. “Feeling you move against me, growing hungry, devouring my passion as I consume yours.”

  Oh God. This wasn’t fair. His voice was thick, his face flushed and heavy with sensuality as his eyes followed her fingers.

  “Suck them into your mouth,” he groaned. “Let me see your lips wrapped around them.”

  His hands were flexing on her thighs, his fingers stiff, taut with the effort it took not to dig into her flesh.

  Her lips opened slowly, her tongue pushing beneath her fingers as she pressed them into her mouth. Closing over them, she watched him as she suckled at them, her breathing harsh as she imagined his cock pushing into her mouth, the hunger she would know as she tasted his lust.

  “Sweet Heaven,” he groaned, his hands moving, lifting her thighs as his legs spread further apart, laying hers against them. “Would you take my cock as sweetly, Ariel? Open your lips for me so hungrily?”

  She would. She would do it now if he gave her the chance, she was so hot for it. What the hell was he doing to her?

  “Use your other hand,” he breathed roughly. “Cup your breast. Let me see you pleasure your breasts.”

  There was no hesitation. Her fingers cupped the swollen curve, her finger and thumb gripping the hard nipple as she rasped it roughly. Her hips jerked convulsively as he grimaced tightly, baring his teeth in the effort to hold onto his control.

  “Yes,” he hissed as the pleasure flooded her. “Show me what you like, love. Show me how to take you.”

  She needed no further urging.

  Her fingers left her lips, the wet tips painting a trail of fire down her neck to the other breast as the hand cupping the opposite curve began to stroke along her upper stomach, her abdomen, moving ever closer to her throbbing clit.

  She was so close, closer than she had ever been before. The heat was whipping through her body and she wanted nothing more than to feel the tremors of release that she knew would quake through her body.

  “God yes,” he groaned as her fingers neared the throbbing flesh of her cunt. “Touch your sweet pussy, Ariel. Show me your pleasure.”

  She was so wet. She arched closer as her fingers slid into the narrow slit, running along the crease between the plump lips until she touched the aching opening to her vagina. She circled it slowly, her finger dipping in, feeling the fiery heat of her own lust.

  Her juices coated her fingers as she opened herself to him, two fingers parting the flesh as the third stroked it tremulously.

  He was panting now, his breath sawing in and out of his chest as his eyes followed every movement, his tongue licking his lips in hunger as he watched.

  “Touch your clit,” he growled. “It’s so swollen, baby, I can nearly see it throbbing with the need to feel your touch. Touch it for me, Ariel.”

  She was going to come so hard it was going to take her head off, she thought distantly as she followed his command. Her fingers stroked around the sensitive knot of nerves, explosions of sensation shuddering through her body as she found the spot, just to the side of her clit, that she knew would trigger her climax. Heat built in her body, pleasure lashing at every nerve as she began a tight, circular rhythm guaranteed to send her head spinning.

  “I’m going to fuck you so hard,” he whispered as her eyes nearly closed, her heart racing as the sensations increased. “And you will watch. You will watch as my cock parts those pretty pussy lips, opens you to my penetration and pushes inside. You will see as it pulls back, your juices covering my flesh, clinging to me as they now cling to your fingers. Come for me, Ariel.” Gravelly, deep, his voice was so rough it was an added rasp of pleasure against nerve endings already sensitive past endurance.

  She felt her womb convulse at his threat, more of her juices spilled from her cunt and a second later, her fingers stroked her clit to an explosive release.

  “Oh God…” Her throttled scream echoed around her as she shuddered, jerking in the grip of an orgasm she had never achieved at any other time.

  As he watched, his intent to take her any second clear on his face, her fingers lifted to her lips, her tongue snaking out to lick at them erotically as she watched his control shatter.

  Before she could do more than gasp, he pushed her fingers aside and took her juice-covered lips like a man starved for a woman’s taste. His hands were tearing at his pants, pushing at them, desperate to free his cock as hers lowered to help him.

  She was so damned hot she was ready to scream for his possession as his tongue plunged past her lips, thrusting between them, creating a heat so fiery, so intense she feared she would burn alive within it.

  Then the world shook around her. Ariel’s eyes flew open as she felt it, heard it. That wasn’t just her, was it?

  It wasn’t. It happened again, a blast of energy a second before the building felt as though it were rocking on its foundation.

  Shanar’s head jerked up, at first in confusion until he heard the screams outside, then livid in fury.

  “I’ll kill the fucker!” he snarled as he jumped from the bed and hurriedly retied his pants before bending to jerk his sheathed sword from beneath the bed as he threw her gown to her. Slinging the strap to the hard scabbard over his head to rest across his bare chest, he yelled, “It’s Jonar. Get dressed now and prepare to fight.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Prepare to fight. What?

  Minutes later Ariel stood outside the motel staring into the black velvet sky as the motel rocked once again.

  “Earthquake,” one woman wailed in fear. “This was why I left California. They’re following me.”

  The earth rocked beneath Ariel’s feet, but the tremors weren’t originating in the ground beneath her. She stared around the crowded parking lot, her sword lying along her back, her dagger strapped to her thigh.

  She could feel Shane, caught his scent on the breeze as he searched for Jonar. But Jonar wasn’t here.

  She lifted her head, drawing in the scents around her. There was no taint of blood and death, only a whiff of power. Her eyes narrowed as she turned, following the direction of the winds as they tugged at her.

  “Find them,” she murmured, a compulsion she couldn’t ignore. “Seek the destroyers.”

  She felt the air around her thicken, ripple with power. There were no whipping winds, and a second later she saw why. As she stared into the sky around her, focusing in the direction of one of the warehouses across the block, she saw it. Like a shimmer in the air, a force building, tunneling through the air until it blasted into the motel.

  “Shane, what kind of technology do these bastards have?” she asked, amazed at the calm that seeped through her as she watched the destructive waves slam into the building.

  “We’re not certain. We destroy what we can find, but we’ve never had a chance to truly observe or experiment with any of it. Each time we manage to save a piece, the Guardians claim it.”

  She tilted her head, her eyes glued to the dissolving force in the air above her head.

  “They’re directly across the block from me,” she told him then, knowing that he and the warrior
s were on the opposite side. “They’re aiming some sort of power at the room we were in.”

  She slid her sword free of the scabbard at her back, aware that no one seemed to realize she had done so. Too frightened? Too focused on what they believed was an earthquake?

  “No way.” Joshua finally spoke through the link. “I could feel it if that were true.”

  Ariel shrugged as though he were there watching her, making her way carefully from the perimeter of the parking lot, across the street and toward the three-story warehouse.

  “I see it,” she kept her voice calm, still.

  “Where?”

  “Watch the air above us.” She kept her eyes in the direction she knew it would begin. “Toward the tallest building on the next block…” She waited, watching until the air began to ripple, the hazy effect of the disturbance building. “See it?”

  She picked up her pace, certain of the location now. The top floor and a broken window. The lights from the streetlamps were dim, the outer buildings casting long shadows that she used to hide within.

  “Where are you, Ariel?” Shanar snapped then. “Stay within the perimeters of the motel.”

  “They’re building in power.” She gripped her sword tighter as she made her way to the small side door of the building. “They’ll bring the building down this way and God only knows who will be hurt.”

  “Better them than you.” He snarled through the communications device. “Do not enter that building, Ariel.”

  “Too late,” she murmured, uncertain where she was finding her courage. “Don’t worry, Savage, I trust you to get here in time.”

  The words came easily from her lips, the trust flowing through her mind. She could feel her own amusement, her familiarity with him in a way she couldn’t believe possible. She could see his expression, eyes narrowed, anger flashing in his strange gray eyes.

  She heard him curse and let a smile cross her lips as she moved along the wall, her gaze narrowed against the darkness. She could feel the air around her pulsing with tension, buffering her against whatever evil resided within the walls. Shadows moved to aid her, a small, almost undetectable breeze pushing her in the direction she needed to go.

  The winds will aid you. Give them their due. Whisper to them your commands.

  “Ariel, command the air around you for protection,” Chantel’s voice was calm through the link. “We’ll be there within minutes, but you can expect at least a small force of his men.”

  The warriors were quiet for the most part, though Ariel was aware of the sounds of them running, muttered curses and even a snarl of rage.

  Breathing in deep, she felt the crystal throbbing, heated and demanding where it rested beneath the snug vest.

  Two voices, one in the air, the other at her ear.

  “Surround me,” she whispered, allowing the tension curling in the pit of her stomach to rise and encompass her. “Protect me. My life is yours…”

  Her eyes widened as she felt something unfurl around her. As though the air itself was a physical force, a shield that encompassed her body. Shaking her head, she fought the voice in her head, her father’s voice, sneering, assuring her that only madness would be found within her mind.

  She wasn’t mad.

  She balanced the sword in her hand, feeling it. A trusted weapon. She could feel a knowledge shifting within her mind, glimpses of memory that she knew couldn’t be possible, yet she recognized was surely a part of her. She had battled before. She knew her enemy. She knew herself.

  Over the past days, the fragmented memories had become as familiar to her as Shane was. The better part of those memories was the knowledge of battle. She had trained in that first life, trained hard and with a determination only exceeded by her hatred and desire for vengeance against Jonar. A vengeance she would have now as well.

  She moved lightly up the stairs, pacing each step, controlling her breathing as she worked her way to the third floor. She wouldn’t have much time. The foundations of the three-story motel had shuddered with the last blast of energy. Soon, it would fall.

  “We haven’t seen the bitch. Surely she would have shown herself by now,” a rough voice echoed along the empty top floor. She ducked and moved to a nearby support column.

  “She’s in the crowd. She won’t leave the area. She doesn’t know her power yet.”

  “But she’s with the warriors. That Earth whore will tell her the powers she may have.”

  “It won’t matter. I remember her well. She despised the power and she does so now. Her father did his job well. She believes herself insane.”

  Ariel smiled. A cold, hard curl of her lips as she moved to the next post.

  She could see the machine now. A thick, dull-colored barrel with a wide, serpent head-shaped end and balanced on a triangular, adjustable base. It moved easily as the operator placed his eyes at the sights, a large rectangle that glowed with the image of the motel.

  “She’s not there, I tell you. Your source was wrong.”

  “My source is excellent,” the other growled. “If you cannot find her, blast the building again. The warriors are there, we just have to flush them out.”

  The operator’s hand moved to the side of the display, gripping the controls and preparing to fire.

  There was no longer any time to wait. Ariel felt the force of that knowledge rage through her mind, her body. Without thought she moved into that part of her mind that she knew held the power and the strength.

  The sword came above her head swiftly, descending with a soft whoosh and slicing through the hand that gripped the controls. Whirling, she brought the weapon in an arc at her side before sending it slicing through the slender tentacles that led from the barrel to the base of the weapon they were using.

  “Whore!” The leader screamed, coming back at her with his own blade. “Do you think us alone here?”

  No, she hadn’t and it was a damned good thing she was prepared, she thought, as she jumped back, placing enough distance between them to avoid the figures that moved from the sides of the cavernous room.

  “Aww, it was a party,” she sneered sweetly. “You should have invited me sooner. I would have brought gifts.”

  The link crackled at her ear.

  “Get the fuck out of there, Ariel,” Shanar screamed.

  She faced the enemy, knowing there was no place left to run. She would have to fight her way free.

  …yours to command…command the winds…

  How? She could feel the protection like a thick layer of power that lay over her flesh, but she had no idea how to command more. And there was no time to figure it out.

  She jumped back as swords converged on her.

  “I like guns.” She met the first with a clash of steel. “Why can’t we use guns?”

  Surprise registered in the inhuman eyes that glowed back from a demon’s face.

  “Stupid bitch,” he snarled. “No gun can harm us.”

  “Oh yeah. Right.” She jumped back behind a column, wincing as his sword tore chunks of cement and plaster from its side. “I should have known that.”

  She ducked and slid to the side as two others rushed her, their swords whipping in the air above their heads.

  Command them…

  Use your power…

  …They are your protection…

  “Goddammit, get out of my head,” she yelled as she deflected another blow, sparks striking from her sword as she kept the blade from slicing her in two.

  There were too many. No matter where she moved or how she ducked there was another to hold back. Snarling in rage she kicked out at the nearest one, catching him between his thighs as he squalled out with a high-pitched girlish sound she loved. Before he could move to protect his vulnerable balls, her sword sank into his chest, directly through his heart.

  “Bastard! Give me my sword back!” She jerked at the weapon as he gripped the blade with his hands.

  She grimaced at the gurgling sound he made as she pulled it free of his body
and turned to meet another. They were out for blood, but so was she. They would have killed innocent people to reach her. Women, children, mothers and fathers, it made no difference to them.

  “You want me so bad, here I am,” she laughed as another took a swipe at her head but only barely missed one of his buddies as she threw herself across the floor.

  She ripped the dagger from the sheath at her thigh, and now doubly armed, she waded into the fray.

  “We’re on the stairs, Ariel,” Shane screamed in her ear. “Stay clear, damn you. Don’t you fucking jump in the middle of it, woman.”

  “Too late, Savage,” she laughed, the dagger burying itself in a vulnerable back a second before she placed her foot on the stiff, dying warrior’s ass and pushed him free of the blade directly in line with another sword that sank through his chest.

  Curses raged through the darkness, eyes glowed red, and Ariel felt an energy, an exhilaration she could never describe. It whipped through her veins, rushed through her head and sent her spinning in delight as she met another of the enemy. She was alive. Pulsing, filled with power, her very flesh electrified with the surging forces raging around her.

  “Come to me…” She screamed at the winds then, feeling the enemy gaining ground, moving closer. “Come to me… Destroy my enemy…”

  Voices were screaming in her ear, around her head, lightning snapped and exploded in the night beyond the warehouse as the winds began to storm, shattering windows, whipping through the warehouse with tornado force as the elements gained in fury.

  Lightning arced and sizzled around the huge weapon that would have killed dozens, shattering the base, splitting the barrel. Bolt after bolt aimed through windows jagged now with glass, tearing through the bodies of Jonar’s men as the winds ripped them from their feet.

  Clashing forces raged in the air as the warriors joined the elemental battle whipping around her.

  Voices raged in the winds that surrounded Ariel then, isolating her, protecting her from the battle. Her arms raised, her sword held high as she gripped the dagger with her opposite hand. Eyes closed, her lips parted in wonder she let out a war cry that hadn’t been heard for a thousand years and with a leap, sliced an enemy in two that would have charged Shanar’s back.