Sevan: Zodiac Dragon Guardians, Book XI

by Faulks, Kim

  Kalliste’s image blurred as a whimper slipped free from my grimacing lips.

  “You wanted to do this the hard way,” Blaze snarled above me. “So, we do it the fucking hard way.”

  “Fuck you!” Kalliste spat. “He’s going to tear you apart.” She lunged torward him, slamming her body against the bars. “I’ll command him to do it.”

  Laughter echoed as Blaze turned and walked away.

  Sickening laughter, and my Hound howled in response.

  Something was changing in me, growing, swelling, tearing me apart from the inside, making me different. Making me weak.

  “Not weak,” Kalliste turned her head to find me and the tremble in her body took hold. She grasped the bars, making the slow slide to the ground. She kept her whimper low. “Making you part of me.”

  I shook my head, shoving the words away. But even as I shook my head, I knew they were true, and the Shaman’s words filled me. You’ll meet your match this time. You’ll meet your match, and no matter how big, or strong, either of you will get, you’ll still be yin and yang.

  “No.” I lifted my gaze to the Hellhound Queen…the leader of my line…the woman I wanted to die for.

  But if I died…would she die, too?

  15

  Kalliste

  “Not you.” His words were brutal as he clawed the cell floor to get to me. His grip clenched my arm as he crawled forward, callused fingers burning against my skin. “Stop it, stop the spell. Sever the line.”

  “I can’t.” The answer was the truth. “Even if I wanted to…you’re bound to me.”

  He shook his head, and the red fire in his eyes deepened to magenta.

  Hell was calling his name.

  Hell, in all its magnificent glory.

  His grip tightened, trembling, until he pushed me away. “This wasn’t part of the deal.”

  A spark of need flared inside me, burning hot like rage. “You think I wanted this? You think I wanted my sisters out there fighting…probably dying? You think I wanted to be used…to be manipulated?” I shoved forward as his hand dropped away.

  Sorrow flared in his eyes. “I came here to die for you. To save my line and leave this place.”

  “Leave? Go where…” I shoved out my hand into the darkness. “There’s nowhere to go but death.”

  Silence filled the space, until I winced with the knowledge. “That’s it, isn’t it? That’s why you never came back, unlike Ezre and Stone. That’s why you can’t bear to look them in the eyes…and they know it.”

  He was a disease, a necrotic limb shriveling and falling away, pitting from the inside out. He was here to be exorcised, to be severed and left to fall away. But how could he, when he wasn’t just the leader of his line…but he was the lifeblood that ran through their veins.

  My heart squeezed, beating a little harder. And now the Hellhound was tied to me.

  I could still feel Blaze’s grip around my neck, still feel the moment my neck snapped and the power of the royal line swallowed me. Blaze had triggered something in me. I now knew it was connected to this Hellhound.

  A bond neither of us wanted. “Why?”

  “What?” He flinched, sucking in breaths.

  The agony eased inside me. He breathed a little easier, his muscles stopped shivering. “Why are you so eager to leave this life?”

  “There’s nothing for me here. I need…” he swallowed hard, “I have someone I need to find.”

  A woman?

  The thought burned through me. “Who?”

  He lifted his head, and flames ravaged the black in his eyes as he answered. “My wife.”

  The sting followed. I pushed backwards, driving my heels into the stone floor, moving away from him. “Then leave, you have my blessing. You have nothing to atone for, Hellhound. You’ve brought me back to life. Once we get out of here, you are no longer obligated to the royal line.”

  He stiffened with the words. That was what he wanted, wasn’t it? I saw the cracks now…and understood just how deep the fissures ran. He wasn’t just broken…he was shattered beyond repair.

  “I killed her,” he cried, dropping his head. “I killed her. She was trying to save them…trying to do the right thing. I wasn’t fast enough, wasn’t brutal enough, wasn’t brave enough.”

  Agony welled in my chest. I sucked in the icy cavern air, and still it didn’t numb the pain. “You killed her with your own hand?”

  He never answered, just knelt there with his head down, as though he begged forgiveness.

  And I couldn’t stand the sight. I shoved forward, and reached for his head. He stiffened as I sank my fingers into his hair. It just felt so natural, like I’d done this a thousand times before.

  His breaths deepened as I slid my hand down, cupping the back of his neck. The muscles under my fingers strained. He was hard and warm, and aching.

  “I don’t want you,” he murmured as he lifted his head. Blue flames danced in his eyes.

  “I don’t want you either,” I answered.

  “I’m not going to fall in love with you.”

  “I’m not going to fall in love with you either,” the words slipped free without a thought.

  He still knelt in front of me, reaching out to grasp my legs and pull me toward him.

  Still, he kept talking. “You’re the Queen of the Hellhound line.”

  “You’re the one they call Sevan,” I whispered, my hands sliding down to cup the hard line of his jaw. “And you are pledged to me.”

  A tortured sound echoed in his chest. I shoved one hand behind me as he yanked. Warm lips found mine as a surge of desire speared through me. He was everything and nothing. He was what I needed and what I hated. He was power and he was weakness.

  And he was mine.

  I kissed him more deeply, pulling him harder against me. I slid my hand around to the back of his head once more, my fingers tangled in his hair. His kiss was savage and unforgiving, bruising my lips against my teeth. He reached for my shirt, fingers working the buttons one by one until the cold reached in to cup my breasts, and, in a blinding instant, he stopped.

  He broke the kiss, and leaned away, hunger an inferno in his eyes.

  “You’re my Queen,” he growled, gulping air.

  “And you’re my Hellhound,” I answered.

  His gaze slipped to my open shirt. I shivered in the cold air, tightening and puckering. Still, warmth spilled through my middle, pooling between my thighs. I wanted him like I’d never wanted a man before.

  “This cannot happen,” he said as he shook his head.

  “Then don’t, if that’s what you really want,” I whispered, reaching for him, sliding my fingers along his cheek and over his lips.

  They were hard lips, brutal lips. Lips that made mine throb and ache, and still I wanted them.

  “Christ, you’re beautiful,” he whispered. “So very beautiful.”

  The barrier between us cracked and trembled, falling away into nothing as he leaned forward once more. This time, there was no stopping. This time, there was only us. He lowered his head to my open shirt, and one sweep of his fingers pushed the edges of my bra aside. Warmth swept across my nipple with a drag of his tongue.

  A moan escaped as I arched my back. He gripped my waist and lifted, muscles straining as he pulled me against him. I wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling his head down to my breast. “I want you. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone.”

  His hand slid around my back, driving my ass hard down against him as he rose. His cock pressed against my core, tearing a moan from the back of my throat.

  “We can’t do this,” his said, the words hot against my lips.

  “You said that already,” I replied as I skimmed my hands over his powerful shoulders and tore at the buttons of his shirt.

  Still, he never stopped, only gripped my hips harder and thrust upwards. I was done with wanting. I was done with needing. I was done with everything that didn’t meld his body into mine, and that was includ
ing clothes.

  I lowered my hand to the button of his pants, then slid my fingers along the crease. He closed his eyes as a guttural moan rumbled in his chest. “I want you,” I whispered. “But this is not your Queen asking, this is not a command.”

  His eyes flew open, the blue flames burning brighter than they had before. I caught the flicker of fear, the aching tiredness…the unfathomable loneliness. I saw his commitment to leave waver, and Goddess help me, I wanted it to shudder and shake.

  I wanted to tear the very foundations away from him. I wanted him to change his mind. I wanted to change his mind. I wanted him more than I’d wanted anything before, even my own salvation.

  And if I could see myself in his reflection, then maybe he could see his in mine? He lowered his hands and worked the button of his fly. There were no words, no sudden movements. Just slow and purposeful, and he never once broke our gaze.

  He needed this, needed to see me, needed to hold me in this moment, to make sure I was real. Just as I needed the same from him. I dropped my hands to the waistband of my pants and slid them lower. I wanted to feel the warmth of his body, wanted to see the desire in his eyes. There was that tremble again. The bitter cold moved in, stinging the tender flesh between my thighs until Sevan grasped my pants and yanked then down.

  The first touch of his hand along my slit made me shudder. Thin panties did nothing to hide every ridge of his finger as he gently scraped and teased, taking his sweet fucking time to skim the elastic at the side.

  “I don’t,” he whimpered, fear moving closer as his finger hovered at the edge, “I don’t do this.”

  “That’s good,” I murmured, and gripped the back of his head, pressing my hips harder against his touch. “Because neither do I.”

  He searched my gaze, finding what he needed. Maybe it was the truth, maybe it was something else entirely. All I knew was the slow hook of his finger under the edge of my panties made me tremble…then there was him…all of him, sliding against my tender flesh.

  A crease furrowed his brow. He clenched his jaw hard. But he never looked away, even when he slid his finger further, skirting the hard nub of my clit, then slipped it inside.

  I shuddered under his touch, and curled my fingers against his shoulders. I’d never been this vulnerable, never this exposed…never this wanted. The frown on his forehead deepened as his lips parted. He moved inside me, sliding, teasing, pressing my hip down on one side as he slipped his cock inside me.

  The head inched inside, warmth met warmth, sliding through my body like liquid sun. I exhaled hard, trying to hold on to that feeling as a growl vibrated under my fingers.

  Sevan slid inside, gaining ground before he pulled out and slowly thrust in again. I flattened my hands, gripping powerful muscles, and slammed against his body.

  His cock thrust deeper, eyes flickered with blue drawing me into the maelstrom of desire, and that primal, possessive growl deepened until it flooded my ears. “I want you,” I whispered and lowered my head.

  The kiss was hard and claiming, just like the thrust between my legs. “I wanted you,” I snarled against his mouth. “And I want you to want me just as much.”

  He pushed forward, his cock balls deep inside me. I was cradled in his powerful arms, pinned in the most possessive way as he laid me onto the stony ground and drove his body into mine. “Is this not enough for you? My body…my life.”

  It wasn’t…for his life wasn’t given to me…it was only borrowed. And I wanted it all.

  I dropped my head backwards and opened my thighs wider, feeling the stretch of him inside me as the hungry slaps of flesh against flesh grew louder. I was smothered by him, cocooned against muscle, pinned by his cock. A moan tore free. In that second, there was nowhere else I wanted to be.

  I couldn’t move, could only draw my feet closer along the ground and tilt my hips. The movement sent a shard of warmth through my body. Sevan lowered his head, the growl growing deeper and more urgent in my ears.

  White sparks danced in my eyes as my heart thundered, smothering the tiny gasp of breath. I hovered…dancing on the precipice of nothing. Power surged through me, just as hungry, just as savage as the Hound between my thighs.

  It was too late for me to stop the magic of my blood, even if I wanted to. I lifted my head, met the predatory stare in the Hellhound who’d haunted me my entire life, and whispered the three words to seal his fate. “I claim you.”

  Panic charged through the blue flames in an instant, until he closed his eyes, gave a blood-curdling growl, and spilled inside me. My body twitched, the spell stealing more than flesh and blood. It was spirit. It was life. I whimpered under his body as he stilled, his body softening inside mine.

  Hard breaths filled the space around us. The seconds grew, until the shudders and quakes stilled and fear moved in.

  He lifted his head, the bright blue flames darker now…almost like steel. “You claim me?”

  I swallowed hard as he pulled his body away, leaving the elastic of my panties to fall in my crease. “I’m sorry…I…”

  “You claim me?” he asked again. “You know what I am…you know what I’ve done.”

  Fear turned to surprise. “What you’ve done?”

  “I left. I fucking ran.”

  And that power of my bloodline raced to the surface once more, more brutal and deadly than ever before. It filled the cell and spilled out into the cavern, hunting like a beast as I pushed against the stony ground and spoke the truth. “No, Hellhound, you survived.”

  He stiffened, kneeling in front of me, chest bare, cock softening, his heart torn in two. But was half of it for me? I’d take it. I’d take all I could.

  “You protected,” I whispered.

  He shook his head, not wanting to hear the truth.

  “You did what you had to.”

  “Look at me, Hell marked me as its own.”

  “Hell protected you as its own,” I answered, the truth so blinding I couldn’t understand why he didn’t see it.

  “Protected me? Why?”

  The answer was in the warmth between my thighs and the echo of my heart. The answer was in the whisper of power in my veins and the call to his Hound. It was in the nightmares and silence. It was in my eyes and my words as I whispered once more, “I claim you.”

  16

  Artemas

  I claim you.

  The words ravaged me like wildfire as she reached down and straightened her clothes and buttoned her shirt.

  The power of the call waited for no one.

  My Hound pushed to the surface, shuddering and shaking, becoming the beast he once was.

  A snarl slipped from my lips and echoed around the cavern. Something else shifted inside me, growing…morphing. I lifted my hand and stared at my fingers in the dark as Kalliste closed her eyes and moaned.

  “What’s happening?” she murmured.

  You’ll meet your match this time. You’ll meet your match, and no matter how big, or strong, either of you will get, you’ll still be yin and yang. The old Shaman’s words slipped through and, as I felt a ravenous surge of power rise inside me, I knew it was true.

  It was all true.

  I wasn’t just bound by the royal blood…I was part of it.

  Anger and pain cut like a whip as I shoved against the ground, the murky cavern walls blurring, melting into brown eyes and a perfect face…a woman’s face…my wife.

  “Sevan,” Kalliste called me, lifting her hand into the air. “Something’s happening to me.”

  I jerked my gaze back to the darkness, watching Margaret’s face melt away into to darkness. “No,” the word tore free.

  I stumbled forward, reaching out to smack the hard stone walls. But she was gone, fading into nothing, leaving behind the pain in my chest.

  Kalliste whimpered and fell forward. Her head dropped and her hair cascaded to the ground. I stumbled back from the emptiness of where my dead wife’s image had faded and bent forward.

  “Kalliste?” Her
skin was on fire as I touched her shoulder.

  She scrabbled at the ground, knuckles turning white as her nails buckled under the strain. I felt the quake race from her body and through my bones. Shards of stone fell from the ceiling to fall toward my eyes.

  Faint screams drifted from nowhere. Kalliste lifted her head and the blue flames of Hell danced in her eyes. “He’s using them,” she growled, but the voice was not her own.

  It was deeper, hungry.

  Filled with power.

  “I can feel them, Sevan.” Her hard tone softened as pain flared across her eyes. “He’s hurting them…he’ll kill them. To break the seals, he’ll kill them all.”

  She shoved against the floor, stumbled, and swayed. I grabbed her hand as she reached for me. The movement felt like I’d done it my entire life. Like we’d done this our entire life.

  Us.

  This.

  Love.

  That echo of despair surged to the surface once more. Pain roared through my line, screams echoed inside my head. I scanned the cell, catching a shift in the dark.

  “Hey,” I shoved forward, desperation rising like a tsunami. “Bring Blaze to me.”

  Boots scuffed the darkness as the Hound stepped closer.

  Amber flames danced in his eyes as he glanced toward Kalliste. She tried to push up from the ground, blue flames casting a glow through the cell.

  “Enjoy the show, asshole?” I grasped the bars, leaning as close as I could. “Blaze Trigg…bring him to me.”

  “He can’t be disturbed,” the Hound muttered and licked his lips, watching her.

  I strangled the bars and stepped to the side, blocking his view. “That’s your fucking Queen you’re leering at, asshole.”

  My Hound pressed against my skin, hungry and savage. I closed my eyes for a second and swallowed the hate. The bars shuddered under my grip. Tear them down, the words raced through my head.

  I opened my eyes. “Tell him I’ll fall.”

  The guard’s eyes widened.