Khaelen didn’t know if he should smile or be angry. Time alone with her sounded like heaven. But vying for her time alone only reminded him she would never be his and his alone. Allantra tilted her face up to him, and he couldn’t resist the call of her lips. The moment his mouth took hers, every fiber in his being came alive. His cock was instantly hard as she molded her petite body against his. Her tongue danced sensually in his mouth. He spun her around and pinned her mercilessly against the tree, giving her no quarter for retreat.
His hands roamed her slight curves, reveling in the suppleness of her flesh, the toned lean muscles under smooth skin. Her breathing became just as ragged as his. Khaelen reveled in the fact, that even with the wizard around, he still affected her so strongly.
“We should keep moving.” Dharean’s words were like cold water on a raging fire.
Slowly he let his tongue swirl into the sweet depths of her mouth a moment longer before he broke the embrace. He could feel the jealousy coming off the wizard in bolts. Good. “I agree. But I need to feed first.” He then took the time to eye the wizard. “Allantra is the only one I wish to take nourishment from. It helps with our bonding.”
“Ah.” The wizard smiled though it didn’t reach his eyes. “Like fucking helps our bonding. I quite understand.”
“That’s enough, both of you.” Allantra’s voice cut in sharply.
“I will tell the vampires to feed, then we will move on,” Khaelen bit out as every cell in his body urged him to wrap his hands around the wizard and choke the ever-shifting life out of him. “Then I will feed.” Khaelen mentally contacted Claudium and delivered the message. “Now if you will excuse us, this is a private matter. Sometimes things can get heated.”
Dharean paused before he responded. “I will confer with Masque. Just make sure your blood drinkers are ready to leave.” Khaelen, smirking, watched him leave.
“That was uncalled for,” Allantra chastised.
“Quite the contrary; that and more.” Khaelen settled his hand at the back of her neck and gently urged her to tilt her head slightly. Just the scent of her alone drove him crazy. As her pulse sped up at his touch, the fragrance of her blood wafted around him like a fine mist. Instantly he was hard again. “I won’t take much,” he whispered as his teeth lengthened.
As his teeth sank into her neck, she moaned. Her body shook with arousal as he drew from her. She ground her pelvis against him as he suckled from her neck. “So sweet. So very sweet,” he murmured. After he closed the two tiny punctures he looked down at her. Her brow was furrowed though her eyes were still heavy-lidded with arousal.
“What is wrong?”
“You reminded me of something my mother said earlier.”
“What was it?”
“She said the oddest thing. Friends should provide what sour beasts should not.”
Suddenly the vampires popped in. Claudium had Armin in his arms and set him on the ground. The vampire’s eyes were rolled to the back of his head; a trail of blood flowed from his mouth. Claudium looked up at Khaelen. “He was feeding, and then he screamed and fell to the ground. I think he’s been poisoned.” Claudium looked to be right, as Armin began to violently jerk, then suddenly stilled.
Chapter Seventeen
Khaelen rushed to the vampire’s side and leaned in carefully, inhaling the scent of the blood that dribbled out of his mouth. “It’s tainted,” Khaelen declared. “Call to the others.” He directed this to Claudium. In seconds, the Blood Twins appeared, each with a grip on a massive boar. “Let it go,” he ordered. The Blood Twins looked at each other before they reluctantly let go of their prize.
“I believe Dominica has somehow poisoned the wildlife in Kynn.” Khaelen sighed, studying the boar as it rumbled away.
“How can that be? The animals seem fine,” Allantra said as she knelt down to check on Taraema.
“I’ve seen this spell before,” Dharean offered. “The intent isn’t to kill the animal; it’s intended to kill whatever dines upon it.”
“Long ago in human wars, they poisoned the rivers and lakes. Their opponents quickly fell without nourishment.” Khaelen looked at the vampires. “Who knows better the need for feeding than a vampire?”
“Just when I thought she couldn’t be any more of a bitch,” Allantra muttered.
“She means for us to starve.” Claudium wiped the blood from Armin’s mouth.
“Or worse,” Khaelen said softly as he looked down at Armin.
“I don’t understand.” Allantra looked to Dharean and Khaelen. “What could be worse?”
“We turn on the shifters.” Khaelen looked at each vampire. “Dominica knows that when a vampire does not feed, he becomes feral and dangerous. She is counting on the shifters not wanting us to feed from them. Thereby eventually we turn on each other.”
“Allantra will not be fed upon.” Dharean agreed with a nod.
Masque transformed smoothly from raptor to man, landing gracefully next to Dharean. He remained quiet, but Khaelen did not doubt he knew what was going on via the wizard. “For once I agree with you,” Masque said. “But the fact remains, the shifters have to make a decision.”
“You mean allow them to feed from us?” Dharean shook his head. “I cannot allow that from my people.”
“It’s not just your decision.” Minn piped in for the first time. She disengaged herself from the pups and stepped front and center. “We need everyone here. We have already lost one of our number, too many when we have so few. I am volunteering. I will feed our comrades. As we debate this, that vampire dies.” She pointed to Armin.
“Armin will recover soon; do not worry about him.” Claudium looked down at the vampire who in all other circumstances would have been mistaken for dead.
Masque squinted at his sister, who stared right back at him. She turned and stood in front of Claudium. “I offer you my blood for nourishment. Will you accept?” Claudium looked at Minn for several heartbeats before he spoke.
“What of you, Minn? If I take nourishment from you, if any of us take nourishment from you, how will you replenish yourselves if you cannot eat the wildlife as well?”
“Shifters can go days, even a week between meals. Plus I am betting we can eat the meat. Dominica knows the makeup of a vampire, not a shifter,” Dharean answered. “Our blood is rich, but it is ever-changing because of our ability to shift. Whereas a vampire’s blood is made up of whatever it feeds upon.”
All gazes momentarily shifted to Armin as the vampire began to slowly and awkwardly rise. He looked at them all with a curious expression on his face. Allantra smiled at him and he almost seemed to blush. Minn wiped the drying blood from his mouth in a motherly fashion, relief evident in her face.
“Well, vampire? Do you not accept?” There was no mistaking the invitation in Minn’s voice. Claudium smiled slightly before gathering Minn in his arms. Slowly his head descended to her graciously exposed neck. Khaelen turned away, feeling the anger pouring from Minn’s brother. Indeed he’d be a fool if he didn’t feel the sexual tension between the two.
“Very well, then.” Dharean grunted at Minn’s decisive if not slightly irritating actions. “Masque, you will feed Armin. I will feed the Blood Twins.”
* * * *
Dominica looked around with hopeful glee. Human servants, or what was left of them, littered the ground. The smell of blood billowed in the air, causing a bloodlust in Dominica she hadn’t experienced in over a hundred years. A mindless servant happened by and Dominica snatched him quickly, plunging her elongated canines deep into his neck. The sound of the blood pumping from his veins and into her greedy mouth overrode his cries of pain. When she was done, she let his body slump to the ground.
It was never good to plan on an empty stomach.
Dominica closed her eyes and sighed almost peacefully. She’d given those traitorous vampires and their vile pets enough to deal with. The wizard had been clever indeed, setting so many traps. But she wouldn’t be stopped. Couldn’t be. The t
raps told her one thing and one thing only. She was definitely on the right path. All she had to do was find the remainder of those dirty mistakes of nature and eradicate the species forever.
She’d had a change of plans. Those of the Council who agreed to align with her could stay as they were. There was only room for one ruler. Her.
Dominica hummed to herself as she planned. She would be in charge of everything and everyone. She didn’t need anyone else. Masque’s face came to mind. Quickly she squelched it. She wished she could see to his death personally.
Once the shifters, all of them, were dead she would quiet all talk of integrating a government. There will be no merging of species. She would be all the Civilized Lands needed to keep order. They did manage to best her Dwarf prince. No matter; she had other things up her proverbial sleeve. Dominica willed a worn book into her hands, and began to carefully turn the pages. Ah, just what she needed. The smile widened on her corrupt, beautiful face as she considered who would be the next sacrifice.
* * * *
Little one.
Khaelen, what’s wrong?
There is something we need to discuss.
What?
Your mother.
I don’t understand.
Get the wizard. We all need to talk.
Khaelen waited until Allantra and Dharean were at a cluster of half-dead bushes, away from the others. It wouldn’t do to get any of them into a panic until they could sort things out.
“What is it, vampire?” Dharean sounded bored, but Khaelen could tell he was more than a little curious.
Khaelen ignored him. “Sweetheart, I need you to tell Dharean what you confided in me.” One of them had to give a little. The last thing Khaelen wanted to do was fight with the wizard the rest of his life. Though he knew the fact that Allantra had confided in him and not the shifter would sting the shifter just a little bit. A little. Khaelen hoped so.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You told me something your mother said just before the incident with the vampires.”
“And? Oh wait.” Deep in thought, she bit her lip. Khaelen couldn’t help but watch in fascination. It seemed everything she did lately was sexual, beckoning. “Okay, I didn’t tell you this, Khaelen, but she said something before that as well. The fire drowns those who doubt. She said that before the fire illusion.”
“Most interesting. Especially given the situation. It seemed to be a premonition in riddle form.” Dharean looked at Allantra. “What else did she say to you?”
“She said, Friends should provide what sour beasts should not.”
“Sour beasts, meaning poisoned.” Khaelen looked at them both. “I think your mother is somehow connected to Dominica. Perhaps all the years she’s been in her mind created some kind of connection that can’t be broken.”
“Wouldn’t that mean that Dominica still has access to my mother’s mind?” She turned to Dharean, panicked. “You said the tattoos would keep Dominica out!”
“Calm down, flammulae. I believe they have kept Dominica out of her mind, but she still has a connection to Dominica. I don’t believe that Dominica is even aware of it.” Dharean’s voice took on a tone of wonder. “Because of her fragile state of mind, she can only relate what’s coming in an almost riddle form. Taraema may not be conscious of what she’s doing.”
“Will my mother never find peace?” Allantra slumped. Both men flanked her side. “Dominica has done so much to her. Why can’t she find peace?”
“That might require Dominica’s death.” Khaelen stroked the side of her cheek.
“I believe that is our goal here, flammulae.”
“Think about this, little one. We can use this. Figure out what’s coming and prepare.” Khaelen turned her face up so that he could look her directly in the eye. “There is a chance that Taraema is aware and is trying to help us.”
“You think so?”
“She only talks to you,” Dharean pointed out.
“Okay. I will go see Mother and see if she says anything.” She stood tall and smiled at them both. “Thank you both. I’ll be right back.” As she strode away the short distance to the camp both men sized each other up.
“We need to try harder at getting along.”
“Speak for yourself, vampire.”
“Are you trying to make our mate unhappy? We make her unhappy when we bicker and fight. It puts her in the middle.” Khaelen waited for the shifter to see reason.
“I agree. I will try harder—Khaelen.”
They shook hands. The sound of Allantra’s pounding footsteps quickly turned their attention.
“I think you might be right.” She looked at her mates, a worry line creasing her forehead where the stone lay snug. “We have to warn the others.”
“What did she say?” the men said in unison.
Allantra paused. “When I got there she was already mumbling this: nature will try to reclaim what it has nourished. I think that means—” Before she could finish, the ground opened up and Allantra fell down, down…
Chapter Eighteen
The roots seemed to claw at her. Deep scratches decorated her arms and legs in a macabre pattern. Allantra tried to reach out and grab something, anything that could stop her descent. Her breath stayed hitched in her throat as her heart throbbed in a staccato rhythm. Snakelike, the roots whipped at her, opening a gash in her cheek. She would have screamed had she not been so busy trying to save her own life.
She could hear Khaelen and Dharean yell to her. They would come after her, and she couldn’t allow that. All three of them trapped would be devastating to the cause. She needed to help herself. Hell, there had to be a way she could help herself. She grabbed futilely at the soil that surrounded her like a tomb. She could barely see anything. The faster she fell, the less light there was. She was a shifter and could see well in the dark, but here there was nothing to see.
The sky above became the size of a plate. She couldn’t die like this. She was a harbinger, the key in winning a war. She was not fated to die like this. She would not. Allantra closed her eyes and focused. As she plummeted like a boulder in the endless ravine, she had but one goal: to save them all.
*
“We have to go after her!” Khaelen yelled, ready to teleport down the massive hole.
“Vampire, think! You have no idea where she is, how fast she’s falling. You will kill yourself and be of no service to her,” Dharean growled. The men turned in unison at the sound of the other voices.
“The other shifters,” Khaelen stated. “I think they’re in trouble like Allantra.”
“I don’t care!” Dharean yelled. “Allantra is all that matters.”
“Now it’s time you listened. We all need to survive this. You can still feel her as I can. She is still alive, and afraid. We need to save our mate.”
Before Dharean could answer dirt showered them as a large root burst through the soil toward the sky. It seemed to search and then … Dharean stared in shock as it wound around the raptor policing the sky. It dragged him down. Feathers fluttered slowly after the descending root, with the bird as its captive. “Dominica has targeted my people,” he said softly in anger.
The ground began to buck and roil. The fissure Allantra fell into began to widen. Several piercing beams of white light emanated out of the mouth. Both men stared in confusion. The root that had dragged Masque into its depths suddenly whipped up, throwing the raptor from its grip. The bird tumbled then righted himself before he hit the ground and rolled wildly at Dharean and Khaelen’s feet. The root retracted into the ground.
Then Allantra appeared bathed in the light—no, that wasn’t accurate. The light carried her to the surface and set her down gently. The fissure closed with a loud groan. Allantra opened her eyes. “You have to counter the spell,” she directed Dharean.
Without missing a beat, Dharean’s eyes bled to black funnels. The tattoos on his arms began to pulse as he chanted. Seconds later an eerie quiet sett
led around them. “Is everyone all right?” Khaelen called out.
“I am well,” Masque stated as he changed into his human form. The small but deep pricks around his torso from the roots were already healing. He pulled out a thorn and flicked it to the ground. “That was a nasty spell.”
“I agree.” Dharean opened his eyes. The funnels receded slowly. The tattoos stilled against his skin. “Allantra, are you all right?” He and Khaelen reached her at the same time. Each male examined her body. Dharean began to gently caress the areas where she was hurt, speeding along her healing process.
“I’m fine.” She smiled weakly. “Dominica isn’t playing around, is she?”
“Dominica must be killed,” Masque said quietly. Fine lines appeared around his mouth.
“Dominica will be killed,” Claudium corrected as he carried Minn to the small cluster. Armin carried the two young pups in each arm. “I for one am tired of being on the receiving end of her shit.”
*
Allantra noticed Khaelen raised an eyebrow at the Council Elder’s words. Claudium set Minn down gently. He brushed a stray hair from her temple before he turned his attention to the others. The Blood Twins popped in to join the cluster as Claudium spoke.
“It is time we establish a plan of action. We need to stop talking and show her what she is dealing with. Each of us in our own right is a force to be reckoned with. She is but one. Powerful, but still one.”
“I agree. I am deeply offended and outraged this demon-bitch dares to attack in my homeland. I am guardian here. I am justice,” Dharead declared.
“And I am Executioner,” Khaelen finished.
“Well, it’s about time the lot of you grew some sacs.” A familiar voice cackled. Every set of eyes followed the sound of the sandpapered words. Za’rae, cross-legged in her usual fashion, floated in the air.
“Za’rae, as always, a pleasure to see you.” Dharean bowed slightly at the waist.
“Za’rae, uh, good to see you are well.” Allantra followed Dharean’s suit with an awkward bow.
Za’rae waved her hand in the air. “Pshaw.” She looked at Allantra. “I know my appearance still makes you uncomfortable. Don’t flatter me, girl.”
Apocalypse Page 10
