Return to Me (Storm Lords)

by Nina Croft

  “Cade will warn us if anyone comes. And I don’t want to go. I haven’t said what I need to say.”

  His gaze flicked to her face. Her brows were furrowed. She was such a caring creature. She knew she had hurt him and now wanted to ease his pain.

  “Then say it and go.”

  “You don’t understand. I can’t go. For whatever reasons, I’m bound to you. When you went, I felt so lost, so alone. I don’t understand what’s happened to me, but it’s almost as though I’ve waited for you. And something inside me keeps telling me I have to do something. I have to tell you something. And it’s so strange, but…”

  She reached up both hands and cupped his face, stared into his eyes, her own so blue like the summer sky he would never see again. He waited for the terror to show in her face, but she smiled in wonder.

  A faint flicker of hope rose inside him, warming the ice around his heart.

  “What? What is it you need to say?”

  She leaned up on tiptoes and kissed his lips. “I need to tell you I love you.”

  ***

  As she spoke the words, pure wonder blossomed on his face. Then the world shifted beneath her feet and everything went black. She collapsed to her knees, heard Torr call her name as though from a distance.

  She was back in her nightmare, and he was still calling to her, screaming her name. But she knew now that it was no dream. She had lived this.

  She had loved Torr more than life, and he had offered her a chance to be with him for all eternity. It was wrong, but the fear of being taken from him was stronger. She’d looked at him, filled with wonder that such a beautiful, perfect being could love her, want to spend eternity with her. His golden wings had spread wide to encompass them both. His face, free from scars, filled with an inhuman beauty as he stared down at her. “Drink,” he murmured.

  And she’d drunk of the Elixir of Life and believed they would be together forever.

  Then the angels came. They’d torn her from his arms, made her watch as they had ripped the golden wings from his body, slashed his beautiful face with their swords, and flung him into a gaping maw, which had opened up in the ground at their feet.

  After that she hadn’t cared, hadn’t fought as they had handed her over to her own people. People she had cared for and loved and they had walled her up to die alone in the darkness.

  “Bella?”

  She opened her eyes, blinked, and a tear rolled down her cheek. She was kneeling on the floor of a cell, hewn out of bare black rock. She shook her head, trying to clear the memories. Torr was in front of her. She’d thought him lost to her forever and here he was. The past mingled with the present, and for a second she couldn’t grasp where she was, how she’d gotten here.

  Torr was chained to the wall, his wings were gone, and a scar ran down his cheek, lifting the corner of his sensual mouth. His golden eyes were the same though. They were watching her, a hungry, hopeful expression. “You remember?”

  “You love me.”

  “Always.”

  “And you’re an angel,” she whispered.

  “I was long ago.”

  “They tore away your beautiful wings.”

  He slanted her a wry smile. “They grew back—sort of.”

  They appeared to her then. Midnight black wings, curved against his back, the tips showing above his broad shoulders, and she gasped.

  She scrambled to her feet, stepped closer, reached out a trembling hand and touched his face, stroked her finger down the scar, to his lips. He kissed her fingertip and heat sizzled along her nerve endings.

  Then she stepped back and took in the rest of him. He was naked to the waist, and in the flickering orange light from the torch, his chest was a mass of cuts and bruises. At the sight, the present came flooding back. Where was she? How had she gotten here?

  “Who did this to you?” she asked.

  “It doesn’t matter. Bella, say the words again.”

  She knew what he wanted. “I love you. It seems like I’ve always loved you.”

  “I love you.”

  Warmth flooded her at his words. “Torr, what happened to you, to me? I remember dying.”

  “You were reborn because of the Elixir. You’ve been reborn many times.”

  “I don’t remember. Just the first time. It was long ago, wasn’t it?”

  “Two thousand years.”

  She couldn’t take it in. It was too much. “What happened to your soul?”

  “I gave it away.” His voice was laced with bitterness. “When I thought you were lost to me forever, I made a deal. I handed over my soul in exchange for powers that would allow me and my brothers our revenge.”

  She remembered his brothers then, Cade, Finn, Bryce, and the others. They were angels as well. She wanted to know everything, understand everything. But more than that, she wanted Torr out of this evil place. She looked him over. The shackles were made up of a black metal cuff attached to his wrist, then a short chain, about a foot in length, slotted though metal loops on the wall at the height of his shoulder.

  Torr reached for her but the shackle held him back. He swore softly.

  She stepped up close to him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and lay her head against his broad chest. Breathing in the scent of sweat, blood, and warm male, she listened to the beat of his heart thundering in her ears. His free hand curved around her, holding her close.

  “I can’t leave you,” she murmured the words against his chest.

  “You can’t stay.” But he held her tighter against him.

  After a few minutes, she pulled free. “What can I do? There must be some way I can help.”

  “You’ve helped already. I was in despair, and now you have restored my faith. Whatever happens, I’ll have your love.

  “But what is happening?”

  “A demon has my soul. He’ll return it to me if I open a portal and allow his army to escape the Abyss and enter Earth.”

  “And if you don’t?”

  “My soul will be destroyed.”

  “And you will go on as you are.”

  He shook his head. “I’ll vanish as though I never existed.”

  Shock ripped through her. “We have to get you out.”

  “There is no out. But I will destroy Razul and his army first. Now I have your love. I’m happy. But you must go. I was resigned to my fate. Now I would give anything if I could somehow stop this and spend my life with you. But it can’t be stopped. Would you have the destruction of mankind on my conscience? I’ve done enough evil.”

  Bella couldn’t take it in. She had found him and now he was to be taken from her. It seemed impossible. Unfair. She searched her mind for something, anything. Finally, she flung herself back in his arms and clung to him. She kissed his chest, his throat, his mouth, nipped at his lips until they opened under hers and she pushed her tongue inside, tasting him, wanting to devour him, to never let him go.

  A deep longing filled her. She pulled back and looked into his face. “Make love to me. Now. Here.”

  Heat flared in his eyes. Pressing herself against him, she felt him already hard against her belly. She slid her palm down between their bodies, over the hot skin of his chest, the ridges of his lean stomach, stroked him through the material of his pants, hot and hard as steel, and a warm wetness flooded between her thighs.

  He hadn’t answered her and she peered up at him. His eyes were closed as she traced the shape of him. Oh God, she wanted him. Just this once, if they were to have no more. Surely he wouldn’t deny her.

  She dropped to her knees in front of him, flicked open the button and lowered the zip so his hard shaft sprang free. She glanced up the long line of his body; his eyes gleaming at her through half closed lashes. He was breathing heavily now.

  Her tongue flicked out to lick the swollen head of his erection and he groaned low in his throat.

  She took him in her mouth, tasted the salty sweet tang of his desire, breathed in the musky scent of him.

  ***


  Torr was in heaven, or as close as he’d ever wanted to be. Her mouth wrapped around his cock, hot and wet, as the pleasure tugged at his balls, shot up his spine.

  He needed to touch her, and he reached out with one hand and stroked her silky hair. The shackle held him in place and he snarled his frustration. She glanced up at him, her lips still around his cock, and then she released him slowly and held his gaze.

  “Make love to me,” she whispered the words against him.

  He wanted to be inside her so badly in that moment, his body shook. He nodded. Just give us some time, he prayed.

  Rising gracefully to her feet, she tugged her T-shirt over her head, tossing it to the floor. Beneath it, she was naked, her breasts small and perfect, the nipples already dark red and hard as pebbles. His mouth watered with the need to taste her.

  She kicked off her shoes and then stripped off her jeans in one fluid move to stand before him naked. She stepped closer, within touching distance, but for a minute, all he could do was stare. Her skin was white, almost luminescent, the curls at the base of her flat belly dark red. Finally, when he could hold back no longer, he reached out and cupped one small breast, and a shiver ran through her. He teased the pad of his thumb over the nipple and she moaned. Lowering his head, he sucked the swollen peak into his mouth, laved it with his tongue, nipped with his teeth, and the strength went out of her. She sagged against him and he pulled her hard against his body.

  He needed both hands, and he silently cursed the chain, which held him to the wall. How was he supposed to make love to her shackled like an animal? But she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, rubbing her bare skin against him, as though she couldn’t get enough. Releasing her breast, he ran his hand down over the indent of her waist, the curve of her hip, the softness of her ass. He slipped his fingers between the firm globes, delved between her thighs, and found her slippery with desire.

  A small gasp left her throat as he explored the swollen folds of her sex. She shifted slightly, opening her legs, giving him access. Then gasped again as he found the taut bud between her thighs. He ran his fingers, slick with her arousal, over her, and she whimpered low down in her throat. The sound made his cock harden until he thought he would explode with the need to be inside her.

  He turned her, pressing her back against the rough stone of the cell wall.

  It shouldn’t be like this. She should be on silk sheets, or on a sandy beach under a blue sky. Not in some stinking dungeon deep in the Abyss. But he couldn’t stop now. This might be all they ever had, and he couldn’t go to his death without the feel of being inside her one last time.

  And another hunger was rising. He tried to force it down, but it refused to be subdued. He ached with the need to taste her. And he drew back.

  She gazed up into his face, her eyes dark with need. “What is it?”

  He shook his head. How could he tell her what he desired? She would think him evil, a monster. “I don’t want to hurt you.” His eyes flickered to her throat, and he groaned.

  Understanding flashed across her face. She reached up a hand and stroked her finger along his lower lip, then pushed inside. Her eyes widened as she ran her fingertip along the edge of his incisor, fully extended now. “What are you?” she murmured.

  “A monster,” he replied bitterly.

  She examined his face, and he forced himself not to close his mind to her. She must see him as he was; see the things he had done.

  “No. You’re no monster. You want to…” Her gaze fixed on his mouth.

  He wanted to deny the need, but it burned through his veins and instead he gave a slight nod.

  She raised her head, baring the long line of her throat. “Do it.”

  Her offer nearly undid him, and for a moment, the hunger retreated. “Wrap your arms around my neck,” he ordered roughly.

  She did as he asked and then pulled him down to her and kissed his lips. She thrust her small tongue inside his mouth, and he tasted her blood as she raked her tongue across his fangs.

  Heat exploded inside him, sizzling along his nerve endings. He kissed her back as she pulled herself up his body, and wrapped her legs around his waist so that his rock hard cock pushed against the softness of her belly. His free hand slid beneath her buttocks, balancing her as he pressed her back against the wall, shifting until he could feel himself nudging at the entrance to her body. He pushed inside her slowly. She was so hot and so tight, and he went still, battling down his need.

  She pushed against him. “Please, Torr.”

  He gave a thrust and, at last, he was lodged deep inside her, and she was wrapped around him like hot, wet velvet. He was home. And for a few stolen moments, it was enough. He rested his head against her shoulder.

  ***

  Bella held herself still, waiting for her body to accustom itself to the unusual sensation. Torr was huge, stretching her, filling her. But it felt so right, and need was building inside her. She tensed the muscles in her thighs tighter around him and shifted slightly. The small movement sent pleasure shooting through her, turning her insides molten.

  Then he flexed his hips, withdrew, and pushed into her again so exquisitely slowly, and she was drowning beneath a tidal wave of need.

  “That is the best feeling in Heaven or on Earth,” he murmured.

  He kissed her lips, then her cheeks as he flexed again, each movement controlled, and she writhed against him, out of control, and needing him to feel the same.

  “More,” she urged, bucking her hips against him.

  He raised his head and gazed down at her, his eyes glowing with desire as he pressed her back harder against the wall. “Hold on,” he whispered against her ear. She tightened her arms around his neck as his muscles tensed. Then he shoved into her, withdrew, and plunged again until he was pumping into her hard and fast, and the world shrank to the feel of his body inside her.

  He shifted her so her legs widened and each thrust of his hard body ground against the bundle of nerves between her thighs. She was mindless, writhing against him. Reaching for something. It was so close. So close.

  As pleasure exploded inside her, she flung back her head back, and screamed. At the same moment, Torr buried his face in her neck, his fangs piercing the vein, and another orgasm rocked her. The pain mingled with the pleasure, on and on. She felt Torr reach his own release, his hot seed pulsing inside her

  Finally, he went still against her. He kissed her throat, swiping his tongue over the small wound, and a shudder ran through her. They stayed like that while residual flames of desire wracked her body.

  “I love you,” she murmured the words against his throat. Then kissed him, tasting the salt on his skin.

  He raised his head. “I know. I thought I would never hear those words again. Whatever happens, it’s enough.”

  She clung for one more minute before wriggling free, a sense of loss washing over her as his body left hers. Sliding down to the floor, she clutched his shoulders for a second as her legs threatened to give way. When she knew she could stand, she stepped away and had to force herself not to move back. Already, she couldn’t bear the idea of being parted from him. Having found him, he now expected her to accept this was enough.

  Never going to happen.

  “It’s not enough. You promised me eternity. It’s not enough.”

  He shrugged a helpless gesture. “I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry isn’t good enough either. There has to be a way.”

  She watched as he adjusted his clothes, pulling up the zip of his pants. She looked at him carefully then ran her palm down over the swell of his muscles. The bruises and cuts were gone as though they had never been. “How?”

  “Blood has the power to heal us.”

  She touched a fingertip to the small wound at her throat. “You never used to…” she trailed off.

  “No. I never used to do lots of things. After I lost you I thought I had nothing left. We were cast into the Abyss and there we were offered a
new life. New powers. I took them because I didn’t care about anything but revenge. And I made those I held responsible pay. For a thousand years, I wreaked destruction on the world of men and angels.”

  “The Destroyer,” Bella murmured.

  “Yes. I became known as the Destroyer and I earned that title. And now I must pay the price.”

  She cupped his face, looked into his eyes, saw into his mind. There was darkness there, but also remorse, regret, and a rock bottom goodness that he would never lose.

  “You’ve paid enough.” She touched the tip of one midnight black wing. “I saw what they did to you.”

  “I have done things since then in the name of revenge that can never be taken back. I would have ravaged the Earth and everyone on it.”

  “But you didn’t.”

  “I did enough.” He considered her for a moment. “Bella, I made a deal with Gabriel.”

  “How could you? He’s the one who did this to you.” She stroked her finger down the scar on his cheek.

  “He has promised to watch over you.”

  “I don’t want him watching over me. I don’t want him anywhere near me.” She gave him a sharp look. “What did you offer in return?”

  “That I would destroy Razul and his Army.”

  “Razul is the demon who has your soul?”

  He nodded.

  She was still naked, her clothes scattered around the floor of the cell, and she gathered them up and pulled them on, before she turned back to Torr. “You’re not the only one who did wrong. I knew it was a sin to take the Elixir. I knew it was a crime against Heaven to steal immortality. I took it anyway to be with you.”

  “I led you astray. I told you we would be safe.”

  She snorted. “I was a grown woman. You couldn’t lead me astray if I didn’t want to be led. Anyway, who led who? You were a goddamn angel. You were so perfect sometimes I was scared to touch you. So good.” She gestured at the black wings, the scar. “I did this to you. I was human and I dragged you down to my level.”

  “Sweetheart, I sank way lower than that.” He shook his head. “And you died for it. A terrible death. But you’re wrong. Your love raised me up. Before I met you, I never knew what love was. It was some sort of abstract emotion until you made it real for me. And I will never regret that.”