Dwellers of Darkness (Darkness Series #3)

by Brown, Stacey Marie

  His finger skimmed my stomach as he followed the band of his boxers I wore. I sucked back on my bottom lip; my eyes closed at his touch. “I like those on you,” he whispered in my ear. “But I’d like them even better off.” He gave them a slight tug.

  My fingers reached up to the top of his jeans, unbuttoning them. “Ditto.”

  With a deep growl, Eli picked me up and took me to the bed. We fell heavily on it as our lips ravaged each other. He slid in between my legs, and the friction of his movement against me made both of us grasp one another harder. I couldn’t seem to get close enough to him. Panting and clawing, I squeezed my legs tighter around him. Feeling him hard against me propelled my adrenaline to pound in my ears. It drove me into dizzy spells, leaving my mind completely void of anything but the present moment. His lips moved down my neck, making me gasp. My hands tugged his pants over his hips and onto the floor. A rumble emerged from his chest as my hands ran back up over his tight, bare ass. He slipped a finger under the tank I had on and ripped it over my head and threw it aside. Our breathing was short and heavy. I sat up and pushed him down, crawling over him. His hands ran slowly up my body. I let my head fall back with desire, as the shudders of his touch sent tingles rapidly through me. He sat up and brought his mouth to my neck and chest. The warmness of his kisses made me moan.

  I smiled wickedly and pushed him back down. I started at his neck and meticulously kissed and nipped slowly down his body, not missing an inch. There were some areas I paid extra attention to. Eli continued to growl, which sounded more and more animalistic. The sounds of our deep breathing were the only noise in the room as we both touched and kissed each other’s sweaty bodies. Ripping off my underwear, he rolled me over onto my stomach. His tongue glided all the way up my spine. I groaned. His body pressed into the back of mine, his breath hot on my neck.

  “Please.” I begged. “Now.” He granted my wish. Sliding my legs further apart, he pushed in deep. There was nothing else but him and me. Pulsating and pounding. Our energy bounced off each other and slammed into the walls.

  By the end we blew up his fan and shattered a mirror. Even with the light switch off, the lights had flickered with charged power. I didn’t even want to think about what others could hear outside.

  “Now I really need a shower,” I panted. A leer hitched his lips. He rolled off the bed and stood, heading out of the room. “Where are you going?”

  He paused looking over his shoulder. “To take a shower. You coming?”

  “Um, yeah.” I bounded out of the bed. “I’m all about saving water.”

  “I doubt we’ll be saving water.” His eyebrow went up mischievously. I never moved so fast in my life.

  “Eli, Ember, Torin is awake.” Cooper pounded on the bathroom door. “Time to take a breather. Cole wants you to join us down the hall in five minutes.”

  Guilt weaved around my conscience. How could I not be there when he woke up? Torin had never fully left my mind, but Eli did an excellent job easing my tension and bringing me back from the edge. It did help knowing Thara was probably there.

  “So much for saving water.” Long ago the water had turned to ice, not that we cared. We had been in there so long everything on me started to prune.

  “Told you.” Eli mumbled against my lips and reached past me to shut off the spray of water. My tongue found his again, and his arms wrapped around me, kissing me till my toes curled. His hands trailed slowly over my skin.

  The bathroom door thumped with knocking again.

  “Not stupid enough to think you guys will come out the first time. I’m staying here till I actually see the door open,” Cooper yelled through the barrier.

  Eli pressed his forehead against mine with a sigh.

  “We better go,” I said as I watched droplets of water slide down Eli’s face and over his lips.

  “Yeah, don’t force me have to come in there.” Cooper’s shouted. “Actually, scratch what I said. I’ve seen Eli’s bare ass enough, but Ember’s would be a nice change.”

  “All right. All right. We’ll be out in a minute,” Eli yelled back and turned to me. “Not that you shouldn’t show your ass off. It’s an extremely nice ass.” His hands moved over it.

  Smiling, I kissed him once more, taking his hands into mine. “Come on. Cooper will have plenty of other opportunities to see my ass.” I directed my words toward the other side of the door.

  “You said plural, right? Like in more than once?” Cooper asked back.

  “Go, Coop. We’ll be there in a few minutes,” Eli retorted back and pulled me out of the natural stone and slate shower.

  “Five minutes,” Cooper said and stomped away.

  Eli threw me a clean towel. After I wrapped in it, we hurried back to his room. I slipped on Eli’s boxers and a tank and smoothed my hair back into a ponytail. Eli threw on some jeans and a t-shirt and followed me out the bedroom.

  The closer we got to Dax’s old room, which was on the other side of the extended ranch house, the more my steps became rushed. It was packed. Almost everyone was there. Josh, Gabby, Kennedy and Jared were absent, but the others were stuffed into the small space—waiting for us.

  Josh... shit! In my narrowed vision of Torin, I had forgotten about him. I still needed to talk to him and make sure he was all right. I didn’t even know where he had been sleeping.

  “About time,” Cole declared. A blush of embarrassment heated my cheeks.

  Mom hovered next to Torin’s bed blocking him from view. At my entrance her eyes pierced into me. Disapproval, anger, and disgust darted from me to Eli.

  “I’m gonna take a stab in the dark and say Mommy doesn’t approve of me or the fact her sweet daughter is sleeping with me,” Eli whispered in my ear.

  “That would be an understatement,” I scoffed, turning my face up to him. “But in no way would I be considered a sweet daughter.”

  “Not after what you just did. Didn’t know you were so flexible. You owe me a new fan by the way.”

  I shoved him lightly. “Shut up.”

  “You two want to join us?” Cole’s aggravated tone brought us back to the others. This time when I looked, Mom had moved to the side. Torin was now directly in my line of sight. Suddenly, he became the only one in the room. Not able to stop the pull I automatically felt toward him, I moved swiftly to his bedside. “Torin, how are you feeling?”

  His one lid was still swollen shut so he craned his neck to look at me. His forehead wrinkled as his attention bounced between me and Eli, taking in our wet hair and the fact half my outfit was Eli’s. His lips pressed together tightly. “Because of Dr. Donovan, I feel much improved.”

  “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up.”

  “I told him you never left his side, until I forced you to eat and rest,” Owen remarked. He was covering for me, although I’m sure everyone else in the room knew what I had really been doing. I nodded and looked away.

  Thara sifted her weight. “I was here.” She stood on the other side of him. Her eyes darted to me and then back to Torin. Her expression was stony and tense.

  I gave her a tight smile and turned back to Torin. “I really am sorry,” I said quietly. This apology had nothing to do with my absence.

  Torin immediately shook his head, taking my hands in his. “There is nothing to apologize for. You did not do this to me.”

  “Didn’t I?”

  “Ember, I’ve told you there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to keep you safe. It is I who should apologize. I should have been more careful and ought to have realized she was on to us.”

  “There was no way you could have known. She would have made sure of it.” I looked down at our intertwined fingers. “Are you still connected to her?”

  Torin once again shifted his head back and forth. “No.”

  “We questioned Torin while waiting for you to arrive,” Cole said firmly. “We cannot have him stay here and still be linked to the Queen.”

  “She cut all ties to me and took awa
y my position and title.” There was sadness and pain in his voice. He was born to be a soldier, and taking it away from him was like taking away his identity. “Thara saved me. She got me out of the castle.” He turned to her his gaze full of appreciation and admiration. She smiled back at him and squeezed his shoulder. Devotion to him was clear, but was it out of respect or something more?

  “Through our union I was able to recognize what door to use to bring me closest to you.”

  “Union?”

  “Yes. We are linked because of the oath put on us. It connects us. It wasn’t until you came of age and out from under Lily’s protection I was able to feel it.”

  The air stopped pumping into my lungs, and I tugged my hands out of his grasp. “Wait. What?”

  Torin had told me we had been placed together by the Fae gods and goddesses, and we had been betrothed to each other before I was even born. This was before they learned I was spawned from a Demon instead of my mother’s Fay husband. I knew Torin still respected the agreement, but I figured me being a Dae would have made our union null and void.

  “I was too weak to contact you through dreamscaping or our mind link. But our union helped me find you. You are my betrothed, Ember. Don’t you think I couldn’t find my way to you?”

  The skin on the back of my neck prickled, and without having to look, I could feel Eli’s eyes burn into me. His voice was tight. “You are betrothed to him?”

  Turning, I saw his expression matched his tone. I became suddenly conscious of everyone listening to each word being uttered between Torin and myself.

  I faced Torin. “When you told me we were attached, you weren’t just speaking metaphorically, were you?”

  He shifted uncomfortably on the bed. “No.”

  I had always felt drawn to Torin. Safe. Deep inside I understood we had been meant to be together, even when my heart wanted another. Could all this be because of a bond? Were any of my feelings real? Eli’s blood connected me to him. Now I was being told my feelings for Torin were based on an arrangement out of my control. I did not like feeling manipulated or unable to make my own choices. Fear and fury jumbled within me. Lights above my head began to sizzle.

  My mother sensed my control teetering on the precipice and stepped toward me to touch my arm. “Deep breath.”

  “Breathe? You want me to breathe right now?” I exclaimed, my arms waving frantically. “What is it with Fae not telling the entire truth? I am so sick of this shit. Nothing is ever what it seems with you guys.”

  “Because we know how well you take it,” Eli’s tone was clipped.

  I sent a glare his way. “You are the last person who should be talking right now.”

  Torin’s pained expression stopped me from completely losing it. It was clear my strong reaction had wounded him. Whether it was me or the bond, it didn’t matter. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt him. I cared for him deeply, maybe even loved him in a way. Truth be told, if I had never met Eli, I might have accepted this more graciously. Maybe willingly. But I had met Eli. There was no question where my heart belonged. Right or wrong, good or bad.

  “Okay, so how do we break it?” I knew I had spoken the wrong thing as soon as I said it, but it was too late to take it back.

  Torin stiffened. “You want to break it?”

  “Uhhh yeah... well, you were promised to a pure Fay, and I’m not.”

  “I’ve told you time and time again I do not care what you are. You were meant for me. This has never changed.”

  A small growl sounded behind me.

  Wow, I sure know how to create an uncomfortable situation.

  Mom tried to reassure me. “You can’t break it, Ember. As I told you earlier, it is not making you do anything against your will. It only compels you more to want to choose that person.”

  “But it didn’t cause you want to stay faithful to Eris. You were bonded to him, and you still had an affair with a Demon.”

  Mom’s eyes grew wide before darting away from mine, and a strange expression moved over her face. Bringing up her past caused her distress, but I was starting to care less and less. For once, I wanted to know the full truth.

  Her voice was quiet, but steady. “Bonded, yes, but then it was forced. Duty. You and Torin are not and never will be forced. If you grew up in the Otherworld, things would be different. Since this is not how life went, you have a choice,” Mom replied, her voice distant.

  “It’s sad it took me being an abomination and hidden from the Otherworld to give me choices and freedoms.”

  “Ember, I am sorry this results in your discomfort. It is not what I wanted. I hoped you would want to be with me,” Torin spoke softly.

  Guilt poured into my chest. “I am sorry. I didn’t mean... it’s not that I don’t...” Trailing off, I looked around the room. All eyes were on me. Eli’s held no emotion, but the intensity of his gaze was enough.

  “Yes?” Torin encouraged me to continue.

  “Yeah, don’t stop there. Finish your thought,” Eli commented acidly.

  This was a no-win for me. Whatever I said would only hurt people. “Excuse me.” I pushed my way through the crowd and jetted out the door.

  Only a few steps into the forest, I felt Eli close behind. “Eli, I can’t deal with you right now.”

  “Tough.” He walked around to face me. He cocked his head, his arms crossed. “You’re dealing with me.”

  Running my hand frustratingly over my damp ponytail, an exasperated growl hummed in my throat. “What is it you want me to say? I didn’t know about this bond. It obviously wasn’t something in my control.”

  “You mean he never mentioned the betrothal to you before?” His tone was more mocking than wondering.

  “He did, but...”

  Eli stepped over my words. “And did he tell you that you two were bound by the gods?”

  “I thought he was speaking figuratively. I mean I always felt something, but I didn’t...”

  “Do you love him?”

  His blunt words stopped me in place and rendered me speechless. Did I love Torin? I did but not in the way Eli meant or Torin wanted. Without Torin I felt lost, but more like I lost my best friend, not my lover. Still, my feelings for him were strong.

  “That’s what I thought.” Eli looked down at his bare feet. “Well, good, he’s who you should be with. You and I were never meant to be more than a few fucks anyway.”

  I shook my head. “Don’t do this. Don’t try to hurt me because you are pissed or upset.”

  Eli sneered. “I wasn’t.”

  His words cut me, even if I thought they were a lie. “Look, I can’t deny I have feelings for him, bond or not. He has been there for me and helped me when I had no one else.” Eli flinched at my jab. “But don’t think it lessens what I feel about you. I do care for him, but I...”

  The words stuck in my throat. I had never let someone far enough in to “fall in love” with. I cared and loved a lot of people. But being in love was different, and it scared the crap out of me. Even with loving my friends and family, I had still kept walls wrapped protectively around my heart. Love meant loss. My mother reappearance hadn’t changed my reactions. The damage was too far embedded in me. I was strong, but the mere idea of losing Eli or giving him access to destroy my heart... I wasn’t that strong.

  “But what?”

  “Nothing.” I shook my head.

  “This goes against everything I am,” Eli barked. “You will always be connected to him. It’s not something which will ever go away. And I don’t share.”

  Fire hydrant. Me.

  “And I have the same problem with you,” I proclaimed. “Is our connection real, or is it only because of the blood?

  His fists and jaw clenched.

  “That’s not what I meant,” I babbled.

  “Really? I think it was exactly what you meant.” Rage seeped into his words. “Blood may bind us, but nothing else does.”

  “Eli...”

  “Let’s make things simple
. We’re here to get our family and friends from the Otherworld. That’s it.” He stepped back. “You belong with him, so he can deal with you now.” He swung around and walked away, leaving me standing there with my rebuttal covering my tongue.

  Holy shit! Can I screw things up.

  Words were usually not lost on me, but when it came to my feelings and heart, they were hard to find. I had hidden them deep down, protecting me from the harsh reality. Because of my fears, I could not tell Eli how I really felt. The instant attraction to each other had grown into something deeper. I couldn’t deny it, but I also wouldn’t admit it. Everything was so crazy, but it only increased the desire to run after Eli and lose myself in him again. Doubt and pride stopped me from acting on it, and I plopped onto the ground with an aggravated scream.

  A fluttering sound of wings grew close before Cal landed on my knee.

  “Bonded with two different men, huh? Is it fair to call you harlot now?”

  I moaned. “Please don’t make me laugh.”

  “You may be bonded to other men, but you know you are really thinking of me and those kisses you owe me.”

  Pulling my buried head up from my hands, I chuckled. “You’re right. You are all the man I need.”

  Cal blushed and looked away from my gaze.

  “Can I ask you something?” I sat back and slouched farther into the tree. He nodded. “I am not a trusting person. I’ve always been someone who would assume the worst and then reflect later. But with Torin, I never questioned him. I always trusted him even when it went against my nature. Is this from the bond?”

  Cal sat on my knee, getting comfortable. “I think so. What I know about bonds is they don’t pressure you to love the individuals, but they compel you to be more attracted to them. Automatically drawn to them, trusting them, naturally wanting to help the other. You both subconsciously recognize the other as a mate.”

  I grimaced.

  “Not to say everything goes as planned. It is only supposed to steer you that way. It seems the women in your family have a certain, how do I say, ‘stubbornness’ to pre-destined fate or to being told what to do in any way,” Cal quipped.