Obsession: Paranormal Romance : Dragon Shifters, lion shifters, immortals and wolf shifters (Dragon Protectors Book 2)

by Laxmi Hariharan

Cain made her forget everything, who she was, where she came from, her responsibilities...all that had defined her life so far. She realized then that her future was going to be very different.

  Heat suffused her skin.

  She broke away from Cain and, avoiding that very satisfied look of male satisfaction that tugged his features, Eve walked over to take the seat on Leana’s left.

  Cain sat on her right.

  “It’s Mikhail’s turn to babysit our daughter today,” Leana said by way of starting the meeting. “How are you feeling, Serena?” She addressed the lion shifter.

  “She shouldn’t be here, she’s barely recovered from her ordeal,” Vance cut in.

  Across the table, Eve felt the tension vibrate from Serena. Yeah, there definitely was something between them.

  Serena drummed her fingers on the table. “I am physically recovered, except I can’t shift. Vance thinks it will take time.” Her fingers stilled; she didn’t look at him. “I hope it won’t take too long.” Her shoulders sloped downwards. “I miss my lioness.”

  By the window, Vance shuffled his feet, changing stance.

  “Your beast will return. Give yourself time to recover.” Cain put his arm around Serena.

  Eve rested her elbows on the table. “You were so brave, Serena. When I met you, you’d been in the prison on your own, yet you hadn’t lost any of your spirit.” She lifted her chin. “The Elysians may have broken through your shields, but they didn’t break you.”

  Serena got to her feet and, coming around, pulled Eve into a hug. “I never did get to thank you properly for rescuing me.”

  Eve placed her hand against Serena’s cheek. “I’ll miss you.” She meant it. She had grown close to Serena through their joint ordeal. Besides, she was Cain’s sister.

  Her mate’s sister.

  Serena caught Eve’s hand. “You’re leaving? Is Cain coming with you?”

  All eyes in the room turned to her.

  Eve let out a startled laugh. “You don’t hold your punches, do you? You are going to be more than a handful for whoever you take for your mate.” She’d added on the last for Vance’s benefit.

  The vampire stiffened.

  “Well?” Serena tapped her feet. “Stop avoiding the question, Alpha.”

  Eve looked around the room before settling her gaze on Leana. She bit her lips, trying to form the words. “I’m his mate—”

  “—I’m leaving with her.”

  “You are?” Eve blinked.

  They hadn’t spoken about this. They’d barely acknowledged they loved each other, that they were mated. They’d never discussed what they were going to do next. She’d wanted to, but it didn’t feel right, asking him to leave everything behind.

  “I am.” He folded his arms over his chest, lips drawn back in the semblance of a grin that seemed more like a snarl. “We’re mated. No way am I letting you go anywhere alone.”

  The force of his words crashed over her. But it wasn’t dominance in it that she heard. It was possessiveness and fear and so much love that Eve melted inside. “Okay.”

  “That’s all you have to say?” He stared, unblinking. Those amber eyes narrowed. The lion was out in full force.

  “I have something more to add.” She raised her hand to her heart. “I love you, Cain. Be my mate. Come with me. I can’t think of a moment I’d want to be without you.”

  Cain moved so fast his body seemed to blur. The next moment, Eve was raised off the floor and being kissed. Again.

  By the time he put her down, her head was spinning. She held on to his shoulders for support. Her insides quivered, and she imagined her color was high. Laughter bubbled up from her throat.

  There were claps and whistles from the room.

  Even Vance had a smile on his face. He jerked his head at her.

  She nodded, acknowledging that she’d never hurt Cain again.

  With her arm around Cain’s waist, she slipped the other over Serena’s shoulders. “Come with us, Serena. Take a break, spend time with my family, heal yourself.”

  “She can’t leave, she isn’t strong enough to travel.” Vance leaned forward on the balls of his feet.

  Serena glared at Vance, her jaw set in a stubborn tilt. “You know what? I’ll take you up on the offer.”

  What’s brewing between them? Eve wondered.

  Something else niggled her mind. “Rage.” She turned to Cain. “I’m sure it was him who reached out to me and helped me escape from the cell the Elysians had held us in.”

  “If he’s alive, we’ll find him wherever he is.” Cain pulled her to him.

  She melted into his embrace. With her lion by her side, nothing could stop her.

  Get your exclusive deleted scenes from Obsession including a steamy one between Eve and Cain here.

  I loved Eve’s character. Alpha females are close to my heart, and some of her dialogue gave me goosebumps as I wrote it.

  Read on for the opening chapters of Deception, Rage and Pandora’s story.

  Rage

  “I am going to break you.”

  The metallic stink of aluminum grazed his nostrils.

  A snarl bubbled up his throat, the anger a ball of fire that twisted his gut. It was all he’d felt since he’d woken up in chains, in a place he couldn’t recognize, surrounded by faces he didn’t know.

  They’d called him Rage, for he hadn’t been able to recall his name.

  He’d been eleven and started his training to become a gladiator in the fighting arenas of New London.

  Until he’d been bought by the Elysian woman who stood on the other side of the glass barrier.

  Between them, the glass walls of the cells shimmered. Beyond her, he made out a control panel and another door that led outside the cell.

  The woman dropped to her haunches.

  Through the matted hair that hung over his eyes, he saw the scars that slashed her face.

  “I was told you are a latent dragon shifter.” Her cold black eyes glittered. “Yet your shields are resilient, more fluid than any I’ve encountered. What kind of creature are you?”

  “The question. of my life.” A chuckle tore through the roughness in his throat. “When I figure it out, I’ll make sure to tell you—right before I kill you.” He bared his teeth at her, knowing he was goading her and that he was going to pay the price for it. Yet that sick, twisted animal inside him reveled in the anger that leaped off her. How much punishment could his body take?

  She raised her hand, and an oily darkness whispered against his senses.

  On the psychic plane, claws tore at his shields, shattering the barrier, blowing his hair away from his face in a psychic breeze, forcing him to close his eyes.

  He realized too late—it wasn’t his body that she was trying to break. It was his soul she wanted. It was the only defense that had kept that twisted monster inside him in check.

  The grimy black of her attack changed shape, forming into a massive black gavel. It swung toward his senses to come up against his primary shield.

  The impact sent flashes of red and white through his head.

  Inside him, the monster reared up. It slammed his skin, pushing against his pores, but there was nowhere for it go.

  He wanted to let it out, to be rid of this twisted beast that tore through him, clawing at him, wanting something more—something he couldn’t understand.

  The human part of him wanted very much to die so he wouldn’t have to float through this life that didn’t mean anything to him.

  But that twisted thing inside him, the one that gave him his name, snarled. It wanted him to live. He had to live…for something, for someone. It insisted.

  He tapped into the anger, as he’d done each time he’d stepped into the arena to fight.

  Channeling it, he let the strength overflow his muscles, until the tendons strained and bulged with blood.

  Letting the feeling overpower him.

  The anger inside was an animal, screaming for revenge.

 
; Rage rode it as he sprang to his feet. He threw himself headfirst at his torturer. It felt like he was flying. Fire and scales and wings of gold reflected the jagged sunlight. The green of the sea boiled around him.

  The scent of salt, and underlying it, the sweet smell of sugarcane that marked the island he called home, rushed past.

  His wings tore through the air, over waves so high they surged toward him, soaking him. He knew he wasn’t fast enough, he was going to be caught. The wave poured over him, weighing him down. Rage screeched. He plummeted toward the ocean.

  The image faded. He hit the glass barrier and was thrown back.

  Red-hot pain smashed through his side. He hit the floor, the back of his head crashing against the hard surface.

  The slimy darkness surged through the shattered barrier.

  Black closed in on the edge of his vision.

  Just for a few seconds, he’d been back in the space that called to him, where everything was bathed in light. Where he was free to fly like the dragon he was, rather than stay chained to this twisted ball of anger caught in this body. It was a space he was sure didn’t exist except in his imagination. It made the contrast to where he was so much worse.

  It made it easier for him to leave everything behind.

  Giving in to the pain, he let it crash over him, breath coming out in gasps, sweat pouring down his forehead.

  The world tilted around him as darkness overwhelmed him.

  When he came to, the cell was empty. He was slumped against the stone wall at the back of the room.

  The glass in front of him dissolved with a swoosh. A woman was shoved into the space. Her feet were bare, toes painted a dark black that stood out in contrast to her skin. She wore a sarong-like dress that wrapped around her waist, coming to mid-thigh. It was criss-crossed over her breasts and knotted around her neck. Her thick blonde hair fell over her face, so he couldn’t see her profile.

  She stumbled and fell to the floor.

  The twisted monster inside him surged, wanting to reach out to the woman. His beast had never reacted like this…like it was almost alive, like it was feeling something other than anger, something simpler, more basic.

  She hadn’t moved from where she’d fallen.

  From that angle, he couldn’t tell if she was breathing. The thought made him push aside the pain that lingered at the edge of his consciousness. Using the stone wall behind him for leverage, he staggered to his feet.

  Only for the Elysian female to train her gaze on him.

  Her oily psychic force slammed into his head, heaving him off his feet so he crashed into the wall behind him. Pain racked his body, and red and white lightning tore through his skull as he slumped to the floor. A scream boiled up, and he bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from letting the sound escape. He’d die but he wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing him grovel.

  He hung there suspended between light and dark, before feeling himself giving in and sliding toward the dark. He wasn’t giving in, he was just welcoming the peace that floated just out of reach.

  The sharp scent of jasmine crashed against his senses. White and green, it cut through the swirling darkness, stinging him to consciousness. It was her scent. He didn’t know why, but the thing inside him leaped for her. His breath caught in his throat.

  Fight.

  He fixed on the voice inside his head, using it to pull himself out of the haze of red and white pain that swirled around him. Chest heaving, sweat pouring down his forehead and stinging his eyes, he gritted his teeth. He knew how to take on those stronger than him. How did he fight a force he couldn’t see?

  “Look inside yourself.”

  The voice was so calm he did as he was told. He dropped into himself, into the whirlpool of flames that had been a part of him for so long he’d learned to ignore it. Channeling the energy, he threw up a wall of flames.

  The fire tore through the psychic darkness that surged toward him, consuming it. The psychic intruder retreated.

  The fire burned, then closed in to form a barrier that moved and vibrated but stayed in place. It held back the ball of emotions that writhed inside him. That fiery thing inside him, the beast he’d nicknamed Ghost, was still alive.

  If he let go, it would sweep through him and consume him.

  He realized there was a reason he’d been holding back. If he let out what was inside him, it would hurt everything around him.

  For the first time he realized he cared. There was something…someone who was looking out for him. Someone he did not want to see hurt.

  He opened his eyes.

  “You’re not what I expected.” The Elysian female tilted her head, studying him. Her dark hair flowed over the burned side of her face. Her dark eyes narrowed. “It’s only a matter of time until I find your weakness.”

  “Leave him, Vesta.” The Elysian male held out his hand. “You don’t want to kill him.”

  She turned to him. “You’re right. He’s much more use alive than dead.” Turning, the woman stalked away and out of the door on the far end of the cell, followed by her partner.

  Rage’s breath rushed out in relief. His legs crumpled under him, and he fell to his knees.

  He crawled to the far corner of the cell and flung himself down. Shock set in, the adrenaline fading away to be replaced by a trembling that shook his shoulders.

  Leaning his head against the wall, he placed his palm faceup against the stony surface. It was cool; the chill sank into his skin but it did nothing to soothe the fire raging inside.

  “Are you all right?”

  Pandora

  She hadn’t meant to speak to him.

  She’d been barely conscious when she’d been pushed into this cell. The fall she’d taken had jarred her bones, had sent another shudder of pain through her already weakened body.

  Yet she’d been aware of a simmering force that leaped of the other inmate of the cell. A blistering red anger that would burn through all deception and pain and would leave purity in its wake.

  On the psychic plane, her senses trembled, and she wanted to skitter back and out of the cell. She didn’t want to be here, to be attracted to that flame that would burn her.

  Behind her, she sensed darkness, the kind that would destroy her.

  Pandora stayed, motionless, calming her mind, pulling on every meditation exercise she’d been taught growing up as an empath.

  It was only when she was sure that the darker presence of the Elysian had faded from the space around them that she dared turn her head. Her pale blonde hair fell over her eyes, so only the shadow of his figure at the far end of the cell was visible.

  “It was you who spoke in my mind?” His voice was rough and punchy.

  She caught an English accent, and below that the musical sound of faraway islands.

  She swallowed, her throat gone dry. She wanted to tell him she was sorry that she’d intruded into his emotions, that she’d manipulated him to fight, but she was unable to form the words that were floating around her mind.

  Physically he was big. Even hunched over, his shoulders were wide. His chest was bare. He moved his back, making himself more comfortable against the wall. The overhead light reflected off the silver of scars that crisscrossed his chest. One snaked down the left side, swooping down toward his waist like a phoenix plunging to its death. It hinted at a life of violence, the kind she’d tried to stay away from.

  It wasn’t that she was afraid of emotions. More that she’d learned to choose the kind of situations she liked to put herself in. Negative feelings made her vulnerable to those who could use them to manipulate her.

  The dark brown of his skin shone under the harsh lights. His hands hung loose between his legs that he’d pulled close to his chest. His dark hair was matted and flowed to his shoulders. His face was in shadow, and she could just make out the cleft in his chin.

  She sensed him watching her with a deliberate intensity. Little pinpricks of heat danced over her skin.

&nb
sp; He wasn’t scared of the Elysians, he’d been defiant to them. Yet it felt like he was trying to hold himself back. Rein in that seductive energy that pulsed around him and called out to her.

  “You saved my life.”

  She felt the edge of pain bleed into his words. He was still hurting from what Vesta had done to him.

  It sent a shiver of awareness skittering down her spine. It was as if he’d reached out across the space and touched her, which was crazy. She also sensed an underlying grief running through it. It tugged at her heart and warned her to get out of there before she got entangled in something she couldn’t control.

  She’d been caught by the Elysian bounty hunters trying to escape the rebels and was bought here. At least her brother was going to be safe, she reminded herself. She’d make sure he wasn’t hurt by the rebels.

  “I am an empath. I felt your distress and had to help.” Her voice was rusty, but to her relief it didn’t waver. She pressed her fingers into the stone floor. “I would have done the same for anyone else.”

  She wasn’t one given to lying casually. So why had that slipped out?

  She was a sensitive who’d functioned as an emotional anchor for the Sian Web. She was meant to share her emotions and balance out the rational parts of the population.

  It was also why she’d learned to shield the core of her so she could still hide away that secret part of herself. She had to do it to survive, to stop the voices from pouring into her head and driving her mad until she couldn’t separate herself from the personalities that filled her senses.

  With him, she hadn’t had a choice. Her instinct had reached for him as soon as she’d been pushed into this space.

  The rational part of her brain insisted that if she gave in her life would change, but she hadn’t been able to resist it.

  Pandora had needed him to fight.

  She turned away, her movements slow, bringing her knees up in a gesture that mirrored his. Sliding her arms around herself to keep what warmth she could inside her, she curled up in a ball.

  “So you reach out to random men, slip into their minds, and tell them to fight?” There was an edge of dry humor to his voice.