Obsession
Laxmi Hariharan
Contents
Part I
Foreword
The story so far…
1. Eve
2. Cain
3. Eve
4. Cain
5. Eve
6. Eve
7. Cain
8. Eve
Part II
9. Eve
10. Cain
11. Eve
12. Cain
13. Eve
14. Cain
15. Eve
16. Cain
17. Eve
18. Cain
19. Eve
20. Cain
21. Eve
22. Cain
23. Eve
24. Cain
25. Eve
26. Cain
Part III
27. Cain
28. Eve
29. Cain
30. Cain
31. Eve
32. Cain
33. Eve
34. Cain
Part IV
35. Eve
36. Cain
37. Eve
38. Cain
39. Eve
40. Cain
41. Eve
Part I
Foreword
Inscription in the Grand Dragon Hall of Mauritania:
You must find what you are before you can become a true leader.
The story so far…
In 2014, Ruby Iyer triggered tsunamis that destroyed many big cities around the world.
Forty-nine years later, shifters and vampires, once banned from Bombay, are learning to co-exist with humans.
Five immortal warriors called the Ascendants have adopted Bombay as their home. Their mission is to help the Council of Bombay to protect the city.
Having wiped out the threat of Daniel, the vampire leader, as well as Noah, another Ascendant who had tried to wrest control of Bombay, the Council of Bombay is focused on growing the economy of the city.
But a new threat arises in the form of the Elysians—a psychic collective of immortals who are stronger than the Ascendants.
Aaron, one of the immortal Ascendant warriors, and his mate, Hope, rescue Freya, the only human with a psychic shield strong enough to resist mind control from the Elysians, from Tibor, the rebel Elysian leader.
Eve, the alpha of the dragons, is hurt during the rescue.
Read on for Eve and Cain’s story...
1
Eve
Watch Eve defeat her challenger to become alpha of the dragon shifters. Get your exclusive victory scene here.
Adrenaline thrummed through her blood, and her wings tore through the monsoon clouds as Eve flew toward Reunion Island in search of her sister.
Hope was on a mission to rescue the shifter who’d been kidnapped by the Elysians. She should be able to hold her own with Aaron by her side—after all, they were both seasoned warriors.
But the Elysians were a dangerous psychic collective and stronger than anyone they’d ever met.
A thread of fear Eve couldn’t banish had her racing to help.
As she neared the island, a complex of buildings came into view. Her attention was drawn to an oil rig in its center. A woman was sprawled on the platform. Eve recognized her sister’s figure.
Fear jolted through Eve.
Hope was hurt.
Eve folded her wings and dived, just as Aaron flung himself at a stranger who was dressed in a formal pants and shirt.
Aaron hit an invisible barrier and was thrown back. His body arced through the air. He hit the ground next to Hope, who hadn’t moved all this while. Was she still alive?
Eve had to stop the Elysian before he attacked again.
Her insides churned. It was her duty to protect her clan. A strange calm gripped her.
She narrowed her gaze in on the Elysian male.
Dropping into the violet energy of her dragon, she drew from it. Power throbbed through her veins. Every pore of her skin popped. A tendril of fire licked over her wings as they unfurled, catching the air and allowing her to sail over the figures.
With a screech that bounced off the waves, Eve soared toward the stranger. She opened her jaws and unleashed a stream of flames.
The Elysian man jerked his head in her direction. He lifted his arm.
She sensed the force of his telekinetic power gathering. He was pulling energy from the surroundings.
Eve’s wings wobbled. Catching an air current, she steadied herself and circled the scene.
The Elysian flung his hand out, and the telekinetic force folded into a vortex.
She dived at them just as the Elysian's telekinetic force smashed into her. The impact ripped through her scales, shredding the tendons that held up her wings.
Eve screamed, and her body hurtled toward the ground.
The wind tore at her eyes, screaming past her eardrums, which burst with the sudden loss in altitude.
Hitting the oil rig, she plowed through the platform and crashed into a raised tower.
Her body bounced.
She managed to angle herself so her claws dug into the ground. Her thigh muscles screamed with agony, but she held on, slowing her speed. She skidded to a stop at the very edge, one wing bent and hanging over the side.
The entire rig vibrated. Pieces of rubble rained around her, on her.
A tremor tore through her body. The oxygen was sucked out of her lungs.
Her dragon screamed and her energy faltered.
Eve's cells changed shape.
Her skin shrank and drew into itself. Her claws retracted. Violet and gold sparked and she transformed back into her human self.
Red-hot flashes of agony racked her body. The force of it arced her chest off the ground and knocked her back to the surface.
Above her she sensed Aaron rise to his feet, followed by Hope. The platform shook as they raced toward the stranger.
Something smashed into the ground next to her. The rig shuddered.
She managed to turn her head, enough to see the fallen body of the Elysian. They had taken him down.
The air surrounding his body shimmered. A portal formed, and a woman in a jumpsuit appeared. She dropped to her knees, gathering the fallen Elysian to her chest. Her gaze locked with Eve’s.
Those black eyes flared with anger and something more. Revenge?
The woman teleported out, her arms locked around the Elysian man.
No one could penetrate the shields of a dragon shifter. How had the Elysian managed to find a weakness? Had he used her own power to attack her?
White pain streaked up her sides. It was as if she’d been caught in a massive shredder that had torn out her insides.
Eve scented copper, found the ground beneath her hand was wet. She was bleeding out.
She heard footsteps running toward her.
Hope’s face came into view. She leaned over her, her features pale.
Relief sagged through Eve’s shoulders, making it pinch painfully. “You’re safe?” Goosebumps rose on her skin. She was so cold, as if she’d been plunged into a sea of ice.
Hope’s chin trembled. “You came at just the right time. How did you find us?”
Eve’s chest tightened. “I followed you. I wouldn’t have sent you off without backup, would I? Not that you needed my help.” Her lungs burned. She locked her gaze on Aaron’s face. “You had an Ascendant warrior watching out for you.” She cough
ed, the thick taste of blood clogging her throat.
“Don’t talk.” Hope gripped her hand. “Save your energy.”
Sweat trickled down Eve’s forehead. A shiver jolted her body. “Take care of her, Aaron.” Her throat felt scratchy and her limbs trembled.
Aaron’s jaw firmed. On his face the resolve to never let anything harm Hope was apparent.
The stress drained out of her, and numbness gripped her. She felt weightless as if she was floating.
She was a dominant dragon shifter. She’d never found a mate who could rival her strength of will, who would be her equal.
She was going to die as she’d come into this world. Alone. A sob caught in her throat as her vision blurred. The world seemed to slow.
The violet energy of her dragon blew out.
2
Cain
Two weeks later
Outside, the surf pounded. Inside, the recovery room was quiet.
His skin throbbed where he held the dragon shifter’s hand. All the heat from his body was concentrated in their intertwined fingers. Was she feeding from his life force?
Eve had been brought in after the encounter with the Elysian and had stayed in a coma since.
Her eyelashes fanned out against the brown of her skin. High cheekbones sloped down to the arc of a throat that called out for his touch.
The scent of lilies and wildfire teased him.
Cain very much wanted to sniff the hollow at the base of her throat. Wanted to lick that lower lip, which jutted out as she slept.
Liquid heat tugged his groin. His lion stretched and rubbed up against his skin, wanting to get closer to her.
She was unconscious, and all he could think of was how delectable she was. He should go before his lion did something he would regret.
Dropping her hand, he jumped up and strode to the exit.
A sound made him pause. He spun back to face her.
The air shimmered on the other side of the prone dragon shifter.
The particles grew transparent and resolved into the body of a man.
The metallic stench of bitter almonds had his lion snarling.
Elysian.
He recognized the stink of the psychic collective race that threatened the Council. They’d hurt Eve and left her fighting for her life.
With a roar, Cain sprang over the bed and hurled himself at the stranger.
They crashed into the window. Breaking through the glass, they went over the side.
Cain’s shifter muscles corrected the course of his body. He hit the ground two floors below, feet first, his hands around the neck of the Elysian male.
The man struggled and kicked out, connecting with Cain’s thigh.
Cain grunted, but his grip didn’t loosen. “What do you want?” Hauling the man up, Cain shook him.
The man’s frozen features didn’t change.
An oily and thick presence brushed Cain’s psychic senses. His lion growled.
This man would have kidnapped Eve, or worse, killed her if Cain hadn’t intercepted him.
Baring his teeth, Cain snarled and flung the man across the garden.
The Elysian’s body collided with a palm tree. The force snapped the tree trunk, and the man fell to the ground. Rolling over, he bounded back to his feet.
His movements hinted at a flexibility that Cain hadn’t anticipated.
The stranger raised his hand.
A hum crowded Cain’s psychic shield.
Adrenaline pulsed. Cain pushed back against the ground and jumped through the air. One leap and another, then he was on the man. His fingers changed to claws.
Gripping the Elysian’s head between his massive paws, he squeezed. His lion wanted to crush the life out of the man who’d tried to hurt Eve.
A groan tore out of the Elysian’s throat. His body shook.
The next moment, Cain’s paws slapped each other as the man teleported away. The pressure on Cain’s brain vanished.
Nostrils flaring, sweat running down his back, Cain shook himself to be rid of the stink of the Elysian’s presence.
Vance, the doctor who’d tended to Eve since she’d been brought in, slid to a halt next to him. “What was that?” The vampire’s Russian heritage was evident in his accent.
Withdrawing his claws, Cain shifted to full human form. “Elysian man teleported in. He was here for Eve.” He raised his head to the broken window.
Vance followed the direction of his gaze. “How do you know he didn’t teleport back in to Eve’s room?”
“Putain.” Swearing in the language of his mother’s land, Cain ran for the entrance of the infirmary.
Vance was at his heels.
Taking the steps two at a time, he reached the second floor. His lion paced and pushed him to run faster.
Pulse beating, heart pounding, his mouth was dry by the time he reached her room. Bursting in, he skidded to a halt.
“I leave you for an hour and you reduce the room to this.” Vance stabbed a finger at the broken pane.
Cain didn’t bother to reply. His gaze was on the sleeping figure.
Her features were pale. She was so still.
His heart stuttered, his pulse drummed in his ears, and darkness clawed at the edge of his vision.
“Breathe.” Vance slapped his back.
Air rushed into Cain’s lungs, the burst of oxygen making the world spin around him.
“She’s alive. Eve’s fine, the Elysian didn’t hurt her.” Vance gripped his shoulder.
Cain planted his feet on the floor. His blood still pounded in his temples. She looks so weak. What if she doesn’t recover? His lion paced.
“Her body is healed, thanks to her shifter genes.” Vance slid around Cain to stand in front of him. “She’ll wake when she’s ready.”
“Yeah, okay.” Cain rubbed the back of his neck. His throat was dry.
Why was his lion so drawn to this woman?
Striding to the chair, he dropped into it. His lion insisted that he should be the first person she saw when she opened her eyes.
“How long do you plan on staying without a break this time?” Pausing by the bed, Vance picked up Eve’s wrist and felt her pulse.
“As long as it takes.” Cain’s lion prowled, restless at the nearness of another man to his dragon shifter.
His dragon? Where had that thought come from?
Besides, it made no sense to think of Vance as a threat. He was a brilliant surgeon. The best qualified to take care of her. It wouldn’t do to tear out his throat just because he stood so close to her. Why was his cat behaving like an obsessed, selfish animal?
“I could relieve you and watch over her—”
A growl rumbled up from Cain’s throat.
“So, like that, eh?” Vance placed the wrist of the sleeping woman against her side.
Cain refused to meet the vampire’s piercing gaze.
Vance retreated to the door. “You’ve barely left this room since she was brought in.”
Cain thrust his jaw out. “Only I can keep her safe.”
There was silence from the doorway.
“What?” Cain glared at the other man.
“You got it bad, big guy.” Vance kept his arms loose at his sides.
Cain’s forehead furrowed. “What’re you talking about?”
The vampire propped himself against the door frame. “How long have you kept vigil by her side?”
Cain rubbed the back of his neck. “A week?”
“It’s been two.”
Cain didn’t answer. He resented Vance’s intrusion.
“What’s the longest you’ve been away from her?” Vance crossed his legs.
Every time Cain had forced himself to leave, his lion had insisted he come running right back to this woman. “I did let Hope take over and go for a run on the beach,” he muttered.
“That was what, three days ago? The rest of the time you’ve been here watching over her.”
Cain wasn’t the sentimental type.
As a dominant lion shifter who’d lost every member of his pride, except Serena, his sister, he’d reconciled himself to being alone.
He still didn’t know who’d killed his pride family. The thirst for revenge simmered deep. But Serena came first.
The mayor had offered him and Serena a home when they’d most needed it. It was the only reason he was a Guardian of the Council.
He knew the doc was looking out for him. He’d have done the same if Vance had been acting so irrational over a woman, too.
“You’re setting yourself up for a fall, bro.” Frustration sharpened the vampire’s accent. “Perhaps you should wait until she wakes up?”
A part of him recognized the truth in Vance’s words. “Think I don’t know that?” Cain placed his elbows on his knees.
Letting his head hang, he rubbed the back of his neck. If only he could tear himself away from here.
He should have never entered the room of this dragon shifter. Cain slammed his fist into his palm.
“Take it easy.” Vance stood next to him.
The hair on Cain’s nape sprang up, and he was on his feet, hands balled into fists. “I forget that you move as silent as a cat.”
Vance gripped his shoulder. “What if her dragon rejects you?”
Cain flinched. He’d avoided asking himself that very question all that time.
Obsession: Paranormal Romance : Dragon Shifters, lion shifters, immortals and wolf shifters (Dragon Protectors Book 2) Page 1
