Soleria’s on the couch, using the tattered remains of my brother’s t-shirt. She’s naked aside from that, more proof of what was going down here earlier.
Yeah, ‘cause the torn-up floor and black leather couch are no indication.
Squinting open one eye, I try breathing again—the scent of hardcore sex is so overpowering, my eyes water and I start coughing.
Soleria turns bright pink from head to toe. “He dematerialized my clothes. Thank God I left my cell on the counter and not in my jeans.” Or else she wouldn’t have had it to call me with. Her free hand’s wrapped tight around the device in a death grip.
Willing some clothes on her, I continue holding my breath while looking around. There’s an impact crater on the wall to my right.
One suspiciously shaped like a large male body.
He slammed into there. Most likely while ripping himself away from her. Which can only mean one thing—my brother’s going rabid. He tore himself away from his female to save her from his strength.
And the connection between us is closed.
I bring my phone back out and select the contact labeled as “Life Giver ♥️”.
As always, she answers on the first ring. “Me’lyz,” she greets me, using the ancient term for “my daughter.”
“Ma, Ianthen is missing and he closed our connection,” I say without preamble. As the Goddess of Earth, she has a tie to every living being on the planet, can find them almost anywhere.
Behind me, Soleria stutters. “M-ma?”
“What’s going on? I’ll be right—”
“Ma, Ian’s in trouble and it has to be me that helps him. Okay? So I just need a bead on him and I swear I’ll take care of it. Just trust me, please.” My aura flares at my proclamation. One I hope my mother will listen to.
“Ianythi,” my mother begins, in that tone that clearly states she’s the mother of this entire fucking planet and no one tells her what to do.
“The Watcher said it has to be me.” Well, not quite, but hopefully my mom buys it. “Please help me save him.”
A moment of silence, then . . . “As soon as you find him, you shall both show yourselves before me. Do not make me have to leave my sanctuary. Do you understand me?”
“Yes. Yes I do.”
She goes silent again, but I know it’s because she’s expanding her senses out from her domain in Fiji. It takes her no more than thirty seconds to get back on the phone. “An alley. Roughly six blocks from there.”
“Love you, mom.” Hanging up the phone, I turn to a pale, shaken Soleria and grab hold of her arm.
Seconds later, we’re in the alley my mother mentioned. Not only is there a lingering scent of their combined sex, but blood and something else . . .
As soon as I realize what it is I’m smelling, my head jerks around, away from the brick wall, and I lean over gagging.
“Nythi! What is it?”
I shake my head, eyes watering. “I’m just going to stop breathing now. Like . . . for the rest of my life.”
Soleria runs up to me. “What are you talking about?”
Straightening, I narrow my eyes in the direction of the blood I also scented. From the shadows, creatures begin to stir, sensing me and what I am.
Sol shifts nervously as the animal population continues to grow behind us.
“Might as well kill me now,” I mumble. “No sister should live knowing what her brother’s jizz smells like. Fucking wrong, man. Wrong.”
A choking sound comes from behind me. “Excuse me?”
Ignoring Soleria, I walk towards the mouth of the alley. A single mental command warns the creatures gathering to remain in place. It’ll only work for so long before the pull of my energy becomes too strong for them to ignore, but I just need them to stay back long enough for—
The blood comes into view.
Liters worth of it.
A few more steps and I stumble upon the shredded body. The one in plain view of anyone that happens to pass by. Gods damn it, Fort’em. What have you done?
Soleria approaches me again. I hear her breath hitch as her eyes land on the dead male.
“Holy fuck, is that—”
“Leave it there. It must be found where he left it,” Nylicia speaks into my mind, stopping me before I can dematerialize the body away.
I can only begin to imagine what that human’s death at the hands of my brother will lead to. The ripples that have already set into place in the fabric of time, shockwaves that cannot be undone.
Ianthen’s destabilizing. There’s no other explanation for his killing an innocent human like this.
“Did Ianthen do that?” Soleria asks.
I refuse to answer that. Not yet. Bringing my phone back out, I call my mother again.
“Twelve blocks over. I’m sensing succubus energy,” she says. “Are you sure something’s wrong with him? Seems to me he’s up to his usual with those females.”
My mother feels about them the way we all do. Nymphs and succubi are one and the same, hated by all females that know about them. Justifiably. Those cum-hungry nymphomaniac whores have been a thorn in all our sides.
My stomach falls because I know.
This is the choice Ian’s making.
This is where it all begins.
His destruction.
Hopefully, his salvation.
I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, without even hearing Nylicia’s voice in my mind, that Soleria is meant to witness this.
I must take her with me.
I must betray my brother because of where he’s chosen to go.
Nylicia’s words from earlier echo in my mind. “Your brother just did the predictable and chose the path leading to his destruction. Now tell me, what would you do to save him from it?”
The answer’s still the same: anything. I’ll do anything to save him from whatever is coming for him.
Even if it means I must be cruel to be kind.
“Thanks, ma. I’ll get him,” I whisper, throat tight. Without another word, I end the call, place my hand on Soleria’s arm, and dematerialize us to my brother’s location.
IANTHEN
The rapidly cooling mass lands at my feet.
My hands are drenched in viscous liquid.
Blood.
From where?
Can’t make sense of it . . . the howling is too loud . . .
Out of nowhere, words break through. Brutal. Merciless.
Female.
Undo anyone in your way.
KILL.
I grab my head, claws digging deep. The thundering pulse of my heart. These fucking howls. The maddening, contradictory urges to fuck and kill. Oh gods, how I need to pound this misery out of me. Come deep in a willing—
The thought alone drives the animal inside me crazier. Flashes of lush red hair . . . pale, delicious skin . . . that thick, yet tight body . . .
More pain. Brutal. Never-ending.
KILL. KILL. KILL. KILL.
Can’t let this happen. Need to get relief. Find a way to calm the frenzy down.
Unthinking, I close my eyes, wishing for an end to the agony.
When I open them, the ghostly outline of the structure before me is familiar. I’ve been here before? Many times. Help is in there. She can make the insanity go away. It’s the lack of female. I’ve gone too long. Only way to end it before I kill anyone else is to give my body what it wants.
HER. HER!
I stumble onto the door. Immediately, I hear Talila rushing towards the entry. Shaking—sweating—I ease away from the door just as she opens it.
“Ianthen?”
All I see of her in the grid is the dark purple and teal of her energy signature. No making out her long black hair, or her teal eyes.
Not her. Not her. It’s not her!
I jerk, throat constricting.
“By the gods, Ianthen.” Talila steps out onto the landing with me. “You’re so . . . you’re destabilizing, aren’t you?”
Franti
c nods. Compulsive swallowing as my stomach churns.
“What happened? Forget it. Come here.” She presses herself to me, lips finding mine. A hand yanks my jeans open—when did I dress myself?—and slides in to wrap around my painful erection.
Her tongue enters my mouth.
Her small hand jerks my cock.
I think I’m about to throw up.
It’s not her! Not her! NOT HER!
Not . . . my female. Ah gods, my female. The one I left behind.
Placing my hands on Talila’s shoulders, I push her back.
“Ian,” Talila says. “I smell another female on you.”
The burst of red in my peripheral makes my head fly around. The grid collapses, my regular vision returning—
Sol.
She’s there, standing on the curb before us, next to my sister. For a few seconds, our stares meet, her baby-blues dilated from how horrified she is. Her lashes fan out in a blink and suddenly there’s a sheen covering them.
Tears.
“Nythi,” Sol mumbles, dropping her stare. “Get me out of here. Please.”
“Wait,” I choke out, as my sister disappears with my female.
My female.
Yes! Her!
My female just left me. After seeing another female all over me.
The wolf howls louder than ever. She’ll never forgive us. We’ve lost what’s ours.
Talila’s hand lands on my neck. “What’s going on, Ianthen? What—”
Pain, a million times worse than before, explodes all over me, the tide rising in my gut. My jaw unhinges and the first splat of bright red blood lands on Talila’s stairs. She jumps away from me, no longer touching me, but the agony doesn’t ease at all.
More retching.
More blood.
Realization.
It’s her. Soleria is the one. I’m bonded to her. Mated—
Vomiting again. So violent that I lose strength in my legs and fall to all fours on the steps, throwing up blood uncontrollably.
“Ian, we have to get you inside. I can’t will a powerful enough Gnetica for too long.”
Talila sounds close to tears.
Don’t know how long passes, the puddle of blood growing beneath me, but I can hear her talking to me behind my heartbeat. I think she’s begging me to get up. To try.
Another wave of sheer fury floods me. Images . . . real? Sol’s in some fucking club, arms wrapped around the neck of another male, her lips on his.
Ricky. She’s with fucking Ricky.
Kissing him.
Letting him cup that luscious ass that belongs to me.
How’d she get to him so—Nythi? My own sister took my female to another male?
My mind . . . breaking . . . too much . . . my head snaps back on my neck, face aimed at the sky, and I open my mouth to let loose the agony of the Hyren inside me.
Chapter 24
SOLERIA
W e reappear in front of my house, on the mostly empty street.
In my peripheral, I see Nythi approach. “Sol, are you okay?”
I spin away from her. Navy blue hair, white eyes. A reminder I can’t—
Unimaginable pressure vibrates out from the center of my chest. So much pressure, building, building . . .
He really did it, didn’t he? Pulled himself away from my arms, my body, all so he could go take his lusts out on another woman.
A stronger, most likely immortal one.
Ten-to-one odds that black-haired chick was a nymph.
More pressure. More pain. A piercing, agonizing sensation deep in my chest.
“Sol?”
Whirling around, I ask Nythi, “Can you please do me one last favor?”
She nods. I know it isn’t lost on her how I can’t meet her stare. “What do you need? Anything.”
As if her eagerness to help me can somehow ease the pain of her brother’s actions. Of his betrayal. Even as my damaged heart softens for her even more, I can barely focus on the emotion. Can’t focus on anything I’m feeling.
If I do, I think . . . I think I might die.
“There’s this lounge,” I rush out, slamming the door shut between my awareness and my emotions. “On 31st Street.”
“31st and 35th Avenue, right? Samsara Lounge.”
I blink at her, surprised she knows the place.
“Passed it a few times. Always been curious. But Sol? Why—”
“Please just take me there. Please?”
A touch on my arm and we’re there, right within one of the tight hallways leading to the bathrooms.
“You aren’t getting sick anymore.”
I ignore Nythi’s comment, eyes bouncing all over—there. At the bar. In his usual spot.
How many times did he beg me for a chance? To see where things would go between us? And I ignored him, pushed him away. For what? To finally break my years-long celibacy with a male that—
I can’t. Can’t think about it. Can’t remember.
“Soleria, what’s going on?”
“I’m sorry, Nythi,” I throw over my shoulder, because she’s about to realize I used her to teleport me to one of my ex-lovers.
Soon to be current lover.
It’s not like her brother didn’t betray you first.
God damn it! Stop thinking about it!
I head straight to the bar.
Ricky is behind it, doing his thing, the top of his dark hair held back by a bun. The sides are shaved close to his head. Muscular arms are bared by his form fitting black T. As usual, there’s an entire line of horny women at the bar, all trying to get his attention.
His black eyes land on me as I approach, widening with that excitement that never seems to die, no matter how many times I’ve turned him down. Within seconds, he’s calling to his partner behind the bar and letting him know he’ll be back.
I meet him by the entry to the bar, arms crossed.
“Sol? Are you okay?” He steps down to my level, leaving mere inches between us.
Second time I’m asked that in the last ten minutes. Do I really look that bad? Instead of answering myself, I take in Ricky again, from that thick, black hair to his perfectly groomed beard, that muscular body.
He was always beautiful. Almost as beautiful as Ia—immortals.
With just as many women chasing him, too.
Ricky steps closer, eyeing me worriedly. “What’s up with you, baby?”
He’s always called me that. Even years after our affair ended. I jerk my chin towards the long line of eager beauties awaiting his return. “You once told me you’d give them all up for me. Is that still true?”
Looking like I’ve just slapped him, he stares at where I motioned before meeting my eyes. “I don’t know what this is about, but God woman. Haven’t I already made it clear that I’d give up every single one of them just to have you?”
The one promise the God of the Hunt never made me.
And yet I stupidly gave myself to him while denying the man willing to be faithful to me?
Without thinking about it, I throw myself at Ricky, wrapping my arms around his large neck.
His thick lips part and I think I hear the beginnings of the word “What?” leaving his mouth—I silence him with my lips.
His reaction is instant, muscles tensing, groaning low in his throat, hands dropping to my ass to clutch me to him.
But there’s none in me. I can’t . . . I can’t feel anything, no matter how deeply he kisses me.
His tongue slips inside, swirling.
I jerk back, abruptly ending our kiss.
The shock in his expression is to be expected, but it’s the horror that follows that throws me.
“Sol, what—baby, you’re crying.”
I am? A single swipe of my cheek confirms it. Shaking, I throw him an apology and rush back into the crowd. There’s no sign of Nythi, nor can I stop to look for her. I just need to . . . keep going. Can’t stop moving. Have to get away.
Pushing my way through t
he crowd, I choke on another frenzied sob, disbelieving.
Am I really crying over that motherfucker? Me? Someone with options to spare?
No. I refuse.
By the time I stumble outside, my cheeks are dry, but the agonizing sensation in my chest won’t let up. Panting for breath, I rush down the block.
“Soleria! Wait!”
IANYTHI
I watch Soleria cut her way through the crowd, making a beeline for the bar.
And, I suspect, the tall, black-haired human behind it.
Within seconds, my suspicions are confirmed. The human takes one look at Soleria and the way his eyes light up tells me everything I need to know. When he steps out of the bar area, Soleria is waiting for him there, arms crossed.
Stop them. Don’t let her do this to your Fort’em.
The same brother that just betrayed her in one of the cruelest ways possible.
The sister in me wars with my inner female, the one that knows very well what it’s like to watch the male she loves with another.
As I stand here, struggling with both sides of me, Soleria steps up to the mortal—
My lips part as her own meet his.
Instantly, the most painful howl I’ve ever heard slams through my mind.
Ianthen!
Gasping, I clutch my forehead and move further down the hallway, away from most of the human eyes. Nearly blind from the pain, I will a Gnetica around myself in case anyone stumbles back here.
That’s when the first image comes.
My brother, on his hands and knees, on that nymph’s porch where we left him . . .
Surrounded by blood.
Dear gods, so much blood.
He’s retching it, his back heaving with each new wave.
An R’mannev. Fate have mercy on him, he’s mated to Sol and she just kissed another male. After he allowed another female to kiss him.
My first—nearly uncontrollable—urge is to head straight to him. To help him through this. But I can’t. He’ll kill me if I leave Soleria alone; if something happens to her, it’ll be the final nail in his coffin.
I dial out to all our friends, cursing as one by one the calls go to their voicemails. Desperate, I keep working my way down the contacts until finally someone answers.
Blood Drenched Conquest (Ryze Book 3) Page 21
