Temple of Luna 4: Savage Healing

by Moira Rogers

  Temple of Luna 4: Savage Healing

  Moira Rogers

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright ©2010 Moira Rogers

  ISBN: 978-1-60521-356-9

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  Publisher:

  Changeling Press LLC

  PO Box 1046

  Martinsburg, WV 25402-1046

  www.ChangelingPress.com

  Editor: Crystal Esau

  Cover Artist: Sahara Kelly

  Adult Sexual Content

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  Temple of Luna 4: Savage Healing

  Moira Rogers

  For years, Celine has ruled the Savage Temple as the high priestess of Luna, one of the most powerful women in their world. She gave up everything for her position, including the only man she’s ever loved. Free now of her duties, she’s ready for a second chance — until she stumbles into a trap guaranteed to wake Karim’s dark side.

  Karim gave up on love the day Celine chose her goddess over him, but a bruised ego can’t keep him from coming to her aid when she calls for help. Rescuing Celine from her captors might be easy, but controlling his slide into protective, feral warrior is not. Capable of breaking her body as surely as she broke his heart, his only chance is to trust her to tame his beast, even if it means falling in love with her all over again.

  Chapter One

  Karim let another arrow fly from his bow and turned to his cousin’s pregnant wife. “Avani, you should know better than to worry about me. No matter what sorts of torments our king has in store for me, I’m sure I’ll be all right.”

  Avani lifted her own bow, and the healer hovering a few paces away made his disapproval known by clearing his throat loudly. The young queen ignored him as she drew the bowstring back with a graceful ease that credited the warrior reputation of her family.

  Except for the fact that her arrow, when released, flew several yards wide of the target.

  She sighed and lowered her arms. “Oh well. At least I can blame it on being pregnant now.”

  “Believably?” Karim didn’t bother to hide his affectionate smile. “You were just as terrible before the child.”

  “Yes, but you’re the only one who dares say so to my face.” She set the bow aside and reached out a hand to him. “Why don’t you escort me back to the nice shaded bench before my hovering guardian calls your sister? If Zahra shows up and fusses about me, Rais will try to lock me into our room again and I might murder the father of my child.”

  “Goddess, no.” It was the threat of his sister’s presence that spurred Karim to offer Avani his arm. “Present company excluded, of course, but I despise the happily married. Zahra won’t give me a moment’s peace these days. She’s after me to find a wife.”

  “Oh, the horror.” She leaned on him just enough that he knew she was more tired than she’d let on. “You should know that she’s been conspiring with Rais. I don’t understand this business about the Temple, but it only seems fair to warn you.”

  Karim’s blood chilled, but he kept his easy smile. “Rais has been threatening to appoint me to the Temple as a trainer. He’d never really do it, though.”

  Color rose in her cheeks, a charming pink that couldn’t be blamed on the sun. “Forgive me, Karim, but if memory serves that’s not the sort of position a man can take if he’s not… enthusiastic about it.”

  He laughed. “There’s enthusiasm, and then there’s enthusiasm. I might be capable, but that doesn’t mean I’m thrilled about it.”

  Avani peered up at him. “Are you going to tell me why he’d do such a thing? I do worry about you, Karim, even if you think I shouldn’t. I’ve grown rather fond of you.”

  Why, indeed? “He’d do it because my cousin is a big believer in confronting your demons.” And Karim’s demons were very specific, very female… and still, for the time being, very much in charge of the Temple of Luna.

  The queen’s eyes narrowed. “You told me once that a priestess of Luna had taken your heart. Are you saying she’s still there?”

  Karim merely smiled and led her through the courtyard.

  Two steps from the door she stopped walking. “It was never the king, was it? It was you. You’re the one they whisper about.”

  He avoided her gaze. “I haven’t seen Celine in years. I doubt I’d even recognize her now.” Liar.

  “I always thought…” Her fingers tightened on his arm. “It explains so much. It explains everything.”

  “So much you shouldn’t be worrying over, Avani.”

  “I thought she hated me, you know. That I’d disappointed her somehow. She couldn’t even look at me when your aunt summoned me to court because she knew I was being summoned for you. If Rais hadn’t come to his senses and come back for me, I rather think she would have hated me in truth.”

  Only a few years ago, the words would have elicited hope. Now, he shook his head. “A romantic fancy, little one. I doubt Celine even remembers me.”

  “If that’s what you wish to believe…” Her tone was more than a little irritated. “I was speaking out of concern.”

  Avani’s temper was legendary, and pregnancy hadn’t dulled it. Karim patted her hand. “I know that, and I appreciate it. But, like I said, you shouldn’t worry yourself.”

  “I’ll worry myself over what I like —” Her voice cut off as Rais appeared on the other side of the courtyard. “Oh, damn. If you tell him I picked up a bow, I’ll encourage him to send you to the Temple.”

  He lowered his voice to a whisper. “And if you tell him how badly I don’t want to go, I’ll spill the beans about the horseback riding.”

  “Unforgivable bully.”

  “I’m ruthless, darling. Don’t forget it.”

  Rais strolled up to them and arched one eyebrow. “You both look guilty as hell. What have you been plotting?”

  “What’s going to happen to you if you try to confine me to my bedroom again,” Avani replied. But as tart as her tone was, she slipped her hand from Karim’s arm and moved to embrace her mate with an eagerness impossible to hide.

  “Mm-hmm.” The king spared a smile for his queen as he slid his arm around her. “Karim, I thought you had better sense than that.”

  “I do, cousin.” He smiled lazily in spite of the emptiness that yawned inside him. Watching the pair indulge their seemingly effortless happiness always left him feeling lonely. “Did you need me?”

  “We’ve just received a messenger.” Rais’s expression was carefully neutral as he held out a sealed env
elope. “This was delivered for you.”

  Karim took it, instantly recognizing both the seal and the scrawled loops of his name, and it suddenly made sense that Rais would hand it over himself. “It’s from Celine.”

  “Celine?” Avani’s brow furrowed. “That’s not the Temple seal. Has Lexa taken over the Temple? Surely not so abruptly, without a ceremony or banquet. Celine was high priestess for years.”

  Something was wrong. Karim almost fumbled the letter as he opened it and quickly scanned the small, neat script. “She’s gone back to her hometown. She says there’s some sort of unrest there.”

  Rais frowned. “Unrest?”

  The letter was vague. “I don’t know. She only asks if I know of someone trustworthy who might come to help.”

  The king snorted. “I do. Pack for travel. Go see what’s wrong and report back. I don’t have any available troops, but I can send my personal guards, if need be.”

  “Perhaps she just wants to see you,” Avani ventured. “Celine has favor with dozens of powerful men. And she wouldn’t hesitate to make demands of Rais himself, if she thought she had reason.”

  “I doubt it.” It might have been years since he’d last seen her, but he still knew Celine. If she wanted nothing more than to see him, she’d simply ask. “I’ll leave at once.”

  “Be careful.” Avani reached out to touch his arm. “And take care of Celine. I owe her a great deal.”

  “As do I.” Rais clapped him on the back. “Send word as soon as you arrive.”

  “I will.” If he caught a shuttle, he could be there in just under two days. His heart thumped painfully as he considered it.

  Perhaps it was as Avani said — everything was fine, and Celine only desired his presence.

  Even as he hoped it was true, he didn’t dare believe it.

  ———

  Sending a call for help had been her first mistake. Celine could only hope it wouldn’t be her last.

  Her basement cell was dark, so dark not even her heightened senses could overcome the blackness. Shackles hung heavily around her wrists, chafing after two days, and some magic twisted into the steel made them impossible to break. She was well and truly trapped, by chains and darkness and her own stubborn pride.

  Then a sliver of light broke the darkness as the door opened. The man who pushed through and tromped down the stairs carried a bucket with a rough-hewn wooden dipper on the side. “Brought more water.”

  Through the open door she could hear the rest of her captors. Quiet, tense voices, as well they should be. They’d taken hostage the former high priestess of the Temple of Luna, and she would be missed.

  Eventually.

  Not for the first time she considered escape. It might not be so hard to incapacitate the man standing before her, but she was no fighter. Rage would carry her through one enemy, maybe two, but the shackles binding her wrists made her vulnerable, and the number of men upstairs was prohibitive.

  So instead she kept her voice calm. “Thank you.”

  He snorted. “Polite manners for a —” A hoarse shout from upstairs interrupted his words, and he cursed and turned toward the door. “What the fuck?”

  Instinct took over. Instinct, or a soul-deep trust that the man she’d sent for had arrived, had found her. She lunged before she knew she intended to move, werewolf reflexes giving the move a grace it shouldn’t have had. One shackled hand closed around the bucket he’d set on the floor, and water splashed in a violent arc as she swung it, crashing it against the man’s head.

  He went down, but he didn’t stay there. He came to his hands and knees with a roar, one arm sweeping out to knock her off her feet. “Stupid fucking —” She hit the ground, and he struck her with a closed fist.

  She’d been sixteen the last time a man had dared hit her. Then she’d been a girl still growing into her strength, terrified and uncertain. Decades of power lay between then and now, and Celine absorbed the pain and shuffled it aside as she twisted onto her back and drove one heel into the man’s balls as hard as she could.

  He choked, but it had more to do with the arm around his neck than with her kick. Someone jerked the man up in silence and drew a viciously sharp blade across his throat, ear to ear.

  Blood splashed her, and in that moment she knew true panic. No sounds drifted down from above now, and familiar, furious power rose in the small cellar. The body of her captor seemed to fall toward the floor in slow motion, slow enough for her to consider what she had unleashed when she’d called for help.

  Karim. Nephew to one king, cousin to another. The man who’d been her lover for a decade. A warrior of the highest caliber. One who’d lay eyes on her in another breath, who’d find her shackled and bruised and covered in blood.

  No one would be able to contain his protective fury. Perhaps not even the former high priestess of the Savage Temple.

  His eyes met hers, already alight with fury, and he trembled but didn’t move. “Celine.”

  The magic in the chains had been too much for her strength, but something told her Karim wouldn’t suffer the same problem. Not with that queer look in his eyes. She lifted her hands in silence.

  The shackles fell apart under his iron grip, but his hands gentled as they touched the tender, abraded flesh of her wrists. “You’re hurt,” he rasped.

  Every movement, every word mattered. Above them lay a town full of innocents, unless the entire community was complicit in the treachery that had ended with her imprisonment. If she didn’t redirect his rage, Karim was fully capable of rampaging through the town unchecked, killing any he thought to be a threat.

  “I’m hurt,” she acknowledged, her voice a whisper in the semi-darkness. “Can you take me away from here?”

  A shudder trembled through his entire body. “Who put you here?”

  Dangerous territory. If she could get him clear of the village she could contact his cousin, have Rais send troops to deal with whatever trouble she’d stirred up. “Please, Karim. I want to leave. Please take me to —” Not the city, where the press of people could snap his tenuous control, and certainly not to the army, where he’d look on warriors and wonder if they’d ever graced her bed during her time in the Temple, soothing soldiers. Only one place might make him feel secure long enough for her to bring him back to reason. “Your country house. I’ll feel safe there.”

  After one long, interminable moment, he nodded and reached for her, his hands as careful as they’d been stroking her wrists. With his focus on her, she needn’t worry for anyone’s safety now, no matter how mad with rage he was… unless someone tried to take her from him.

  She could only hope no one would be stupid enough, or the villagers of New Haven wouldn’t survive long enough for the king to judge their loyalty. Karim would slaughter them all.

  ———

  He hadn’t sent ahead word for his small staff to ready the house. It was cold, with no dinner laid out and no fire in the hearth.

  No matter. Karim clutched Celine tighter to his chest and bypassed the great room altogether, heading for the stone stairs. “Have you eaten?” If not, he would need to bring food to her.

  “Food would be welcome, as long as you’ll share it with me.” Her voice held a slight edge, probably because she still hadn’t forgiven him for refusing to let her walk.

  “Yes.” It wouldn’t be fancy fare, but he could bring her food. Feed her.

  Her fingers brushed along his jaw, soft and soothing. “Remember, first you must call your cousin and tell him I’m safe.” She hesitated a heartbeat. “You do have a comlink out here, don’t you?”

  Shit, he’d forgotten. “No. There’s nothing.”

  “Servants to send a message?”

  Yes, he had those. “As soon as you’re safe.”

  She stroked his cheek again, then slid long, strong fingers up to drag through his hair. “I am safe. Here with you, Karim.”

  She was trying too hard to soothe him, and he opened his mouth to tell her he was fine. He hadn�
��t lost his mind like some battle-scarred warrior who’d gone bestial.

  Except the words came on a harsh growl. “I’m fine, Celine.”

  That earned him a stern look and a tart retort that took him back decades. “Don’t lie to a priestess, Karim.”

  He forced himself to set her down. “If I weren’t fine, I’d be prowling every corner, snarling and looking for danger.” As it was, he had to hold himself back from just that.

  She saw through him. “You’re not going to do that once you’ve stashed me in a bed?”

  “No.” Because he wasn’t stashing her in a bed. He took her arm instead and dragged her down the hall. “There’s a room here, with a bath chamber. You can get cleaned up.”

  “I would appreciate that.” From the wistful tone of her voice, it was the truth and then some.

  “You’re hungry.” If he busied himself with something else that would satisfy her, he could fight the need to bathe her himself.

  “Yes, Karim.” She rocked up on her toes and pressed a soft kiss to his jaw. “Thank you.”

  Entirely of its own volition, his hand slid into her hair and clenched tight. “Celine.”

  The strong beat of her heart stuttered, came back faster, though not from fear. Her eyes held no terror, just understanding and acceptance. “Yes?”

  “I’ll be back soon.”

  Blood pounded in his ears and his body protested, but he descended the stairs anyway. He had to get away before he proved her right.

  Before he took her like a beast.

  Chapter Two

  A servant arrived not long after Karim’s departure, her arms full of what had to be hastily aired out clothing. Celine even recognized the robe at the top of the stack, a deep bronze-colored silk only a few shades darker than her skin with intricate patterns embroidered in black along the sleeves and hems. Karim had given it to her himself, the only time she’d ever visited his country home.