Claimed: Paranormal Romance (Immortals, Vampires and Shifters) (Many Lives Book 4)

by Laxmi Hariharan

  Then the devil springs his surprise. He rises to his feet and holds out a hand.

  When I grasp it, he hauls me up, the momentum enough to brush my body against his.

  "Don't say I didn't warn you," he says.

  16

  Tara

  "Let's play." His lips widen in a grin. But the look in those blue eyes of his...it makes me wary.

  "Play?" I blink. "You mean like the shifters?"

  Dominant shifter females like to be chased. It's a test they set for their males, a clash of wills and a way to test potential lovers.

  Does he realize that in asking this, he's accepted me as his equal in strength?

  "You've been provoking me since the moment I met you," he says. "Now deal with the consequences."

  His voice is soft, but I hear the threat buried in them. Anticipation threads my skin. "Ooh." I mock shiver. "I'm so scared."

  In response, he snaps his teeth at me. Caught by surprise, I jump, putting space between us.

  Those blue eyes flash, in them the promise that when he gets his hands on me, he's going to make me pay.

  "Run," he says, voice casual. "I'll give you a five-minute head start."

  I don’t wait. I take off my shoes and run toward the row of palm trees that skirt the clearing, running away from the wedding as fast as I can. I’m human. He’s immortal. He’s faster than me. Stronger. But I've outrun gangs who chased me all my growing years. Now the adrenaline pumps through me. That old feeling of doing what it takes to survive takes hold. I’m playing the most important game of my life this time. It's my heart at stake.

  Think, Tara, think.

  He's a born hunter, a good tracker, dammit. He's fought and killed many before. But he's never chased a female like me, not like this.

  Reaching the narrow inlet of water that runs through the far end of the mayor's estate, I dive in. Emerging on the other side, I hike up my wet dress and take off into the denser thicket of trees.

  I pause just long enough to tie up the vines hanging from the tree, aware of the precious seconds ticking by. Damn! My heartbeat moves up a notch as the sweat runs down my forehead and into my eyes. Blinking it away, I take off again, running until I reach a particularly large mango tree. Without giving myself time to think, I climb up the tree until I reach a branch halfway up. I've just flung my leg over the branch and pushed back against it when I hear a yell and cursing.

  Oh! He's going to be so mad! I bite my lips to stop myself from chuckling aloud.

  I freeze.

  For just through the leaves, I see him pass by. Damn, he's fast!

  It's Leana who taught me to lay traps like that, and battle-toughened shifter males have been laid low by them. But not my immortal. He pauses right under my tree, and I forget to breathe.

  If he looks up, he'll see me. Only one thing to do. Take him by surprise.

  The next second I drop down, slamming into him. He hits the earth, managing to twist his head just in time to prevent his chin from hitting the ground. Even taken by surprise, his reflexes are fast.

  Wrenching his arms back, I lock my thighs around his waist, holding him captive.

  Under me he goes still, muscles rock hard between my legs. His shoulder muscles bunch as I lean forward, letting my breasts brush his back.

  Placing my lips next to his ear, I say, "Yield."

  No answer.

  "I win. Admit it. You are no match for me."

  Turning his head to the side, he peers at me and a glimmer of blue sparkles. He nods.

  I let go and jump off him, knees bent, hands held up in a defensive pose.

  He turns onto his back. Folding his hands behind his neck, the devil growls, "Well. You have me where you want me. You won. What are you going to do with me now?"

  Ah!

  "Wha…what do you mean?" My voice comes out hoarse, and I clear my throat.

  Annoying male. Why is nothing with him ever easy?

  He takes in my wet dress clinging to my body. His eyes slide up my legs, my thighs, and by the time they reach my chest, I feel my nipples pucker. Clenching my hands at my side, I force myself to stay still, to not back up and put distance between us. All this time I’ve pursued him; but now here he is, looking at me as if he wants to possess me. A shudder of liquid heat pools between my thighs.

  "You know exactly what I mean." His voice tugs at my sensitive nerve endings.

  "I know what you're doing," I reply.

  "Oh yeah?" He tilts his head.

  "You think the playing will put me at ease, give me a chance to get used to your dominance without being overwhelmed. Guess what…I have news for you. It's working."

  I can't stop the smile that pulls at my lips.

  And then I move.

  Closing the distance between us, I fling my leg over his waist and kneel down with his body between my legs. I'm careful not to touch him, not even when I lean over him. Not when his eyes automatically go to the valley between my breasts as I bend low enough to give him an eyeful of cleavage. Or when I lower my lips toward him, close enough for my nose to almost brush him. Goosebumps spring up on his skin as my breath brushes his cheek.

  I bring my lips close...so close to him. If I flick out my tongue, I could lick him, taste him.

  He takes a slow, indrawn breath. Then he turns on his side, propping his head with his hand. "You just a tease, baby? Or do you intend to carry through with your threats?" he asks, voice silky. He sounds amused.

  And that makes me mad.

  Yet I'm also aware that this lethal, brooding male is showing me a part of him he's held back before. He's playing with me. Teasing. Taunting.

  So can I.

  "I’m not done yet,” I say as I push him back against the ground. “Hmm…Now let's see," I say. “Should I touch you at the base of your throat where your scent will be the most potent. Or perhaps lower." My eyes slide down his half-open shirt to the shadowed cleft that runs between his pecs. I want to reach out and touch that hard ridge, to feel the velvet of his skin over those sculpted muscles. I curl my hands. "What if I licked you all the way down to your belly button? How do you taste there, I wonder?"

  I hear an indrawn breath from him but barely feel it, for I'm already a few steps ahead. My eyes are drawn to the bulge in the front of his pants that grows larger as my eyes caress it. "Can't resist me, can you? Is the blood pumping through your veins? Desire rushing through you, slamming through your hardness? If I lowered your zipper and took you in my palm, would you throb for me then? Would I see the silvery bead of your arousal—"

  It's crazy, but my own words are turning me on. Molten heat slams through me, and I bite my lips to keep from gasping aloud.

  His muscles lock under me, and that's the only warning I get before he moves. Kris is normally so restrained that it's easy to forget he’s a powerful immortal.

  But now there’s no missing the threat in those coiled muscles. Not when I’m on my back and his body is looming over mine, his powerful biceps on either side of my head, holding up his body. This male is dangerous. He’d be lethal in a fight. Yet his eyes betray his confusion. The blue in them swirls, uncertain.

  "I don't want to overwhelm you again," he growls, but there's an edge to his voice. Pain and grief laced with helplessness.

  Rolling onto his back, he holds me close till I am cushioned by his chest. His big body trembles. He's not as invincible as he seems.

  It hits me then.

  I understand what he's been trying to tell me all along. "You love me, don't you?" I reach up and touch his face. "But you're afraid if you opened yourself up to me that your dominance would take over. That you wouldn’t be able to control yourself. Is that why you hold back your emotions, your personality, so much?"

  He doesn't reply, his silence indicating that I guessed right. He wants me, I know. But the extent to which he's fighting his inner demons only now becomes clear.

  "You are the strongest, fiercest female I’ve met," he says. "But I don't trust myself n
ot to hurt you."

  His words come out rough, intensifying the frustration humming through my body.

  When I place my palm over his heart, I feel its thump-thump-thump. It's beating fast, echoing mine. He's in agony, caught in a conflict he's never shared with me, not until now.

  "You'd never harm me, Kris," I say.

  Those blue eyes and run over my features, swirling with a hidden emotion. "How can you be so sure?" he asks. "I hurt her, didn't I?"

  He's talking about his mate. Then he shares more, and I know he's taking the first steps toward accepting whatever it is that simmers between us. "Sofia," he says. "I sensed her the moment she was born."

  "Is that normal?"

  He shakes his head and looks away. "Not like that. You normally have to meet your mate face-to-face to sense them. Brahma told me I was the only Ascendant to whom this happened. He advised me to wait for her to come to me. He warned me not to push her. She needed to experience life, to find herself first. She came to me, but she wasn't ready. So I let her go the first time."

  "Then you got impatient and couldn't wait?"

  His eyes move back to mine. "On a soul level, she recognized me, but she couldn't accept me. Couldn't accept her destiny was all laid out with me. She was quite defiant. When I finally confronted her about the inevitability of being with me, she killed herself. Threw herself into the sea and drowned."

  His arms tighten around me, and I know he's reliving the horror of that time. I’m there with him as he jumps into the depths, searching for her, the waters closing over him. The sense of desperation and helplessness, the horror of those moments, I relive it all with him.

  I run my fingers through his hair. "I’m so sorry for what you've been through," I say. "But me? I don't think too much about the future." A chuckle escapes me. "I grew up in the slums, fighting to survive every day of my life. I learned to grab what I have in front of me, to take what makes me happy."

  I look up into his eyes, pouring out everything I’m feeling for him: my need, my love…my very soul. Can he sense how much I want him?

  He cups my chin, running a finger over my lips. "From the moment I saw you, I wanted you for myself. I knew I couldn't share you with anyone. The depth of feeling that came over me, it was so intense, and I'd never faced anything like it before. That scared me even more."

  Hearing his words sends a pulse of hunger racing through me. The heat in my chest is a live thing, growing, curling…a hungry monster that wants him.

  He runs his fingers through my hair. Tangling them in the strands, he pulls, just enough to send a shudder of pain-pleasure zinging through my scalp.

  "Make love to me. Right here, right now." My voice rises in urgency. Something inside pushes me to lean up to him, to bring my face so close to his that I can see the silver-blue sparks flash in his eyes.

  "You sure?" he asks, voice serious.

  I want to simply close my lips over his, but I know he wants to hear it from me.

  "I've never been more sure in my life."

  Barely are the words out, when the sparks in those blue eyes ignite. He leans down his head and brushes his lips over mine. Just a touch. Tender. So sweet.

  Something inside me moves, wanting to break through. I realize then that I was wrong about him again. My devil has a core that he's never let anyone else see. None but me.

  Above me, the rise-fall-rise of his chest is almost soothing. He runs his fingers through the length of my hair. His fingers shiver over my scalp, and I shudder as pin-pricks of awareness fan out, arrowing to my core.

  He plays those fingers down my arm, leaving sparks of fire dancing in their wake.

  I bite my lips, but not in time to stop the groan that escapes me.

  "So, sensitive…" the devil says, voice deepening until it feels I'll drown in its depths.

  My tongue flicks out to touch lips gone dry, to capture the last lingering taste of him that still clings to me.

  The little movement seems to shake him into reacting. His fingers grip my chin as he turns my face to him.

  My eyelids flutter down, I', suddenly shy.

  I'm not sure I want him to see me like this, not when I feel so vulnerable. Not when it feels like my heart is torn out of my chest and he can see it's every pulse, every beat that echoes through me, twining with his.

  His lips close over mine.

  An incredible feeling of tenderness bleeds out of him. He wants me. He wants to take care of me. I've never had anyone in my life want to protect me like this before.

  And that's my undoing.

  Like honey, his taste seeps onto my tongue. The scent of peppery woodsmoke and pine teases me, arouses me, crawls under my skin and melds with my blood. And I’m helpless against the onslaught of feelings. A need to give to him takes over, and I let him sip from me, draw from me. And he does.

  His tongue thrusts into my mouth, pulling the very essence of me from my soul.

  He needs me more than he'll admit. For he is mine. Only he doesn't know it yet.

  The realization dawns, and I go still in his arms, even as he moves.

  He slides his body back over me; and when my eyes fly open, it’s to those deep blue eyes. I lose myself in the ebb and flow of emotions swirling there.

  "Tara, I—" The next moment he's flung off me.

  17

  Kris

  The warm sea breeze blows between us, bringing with it the acrid scent of dry ice and ozone.

  Vampires.

  I've never allowed myself to be caught unawares by the enemy. That part of me trained for battle has always been alert, on guard. It's a measure of how much the witch gets through my defenses that I don't sense the danger until it's right on us. For, one moment I feel her lips; the next, I'm pulled off her.

  Arms grab me, nails biting into my back, my arms, my neck, as I’m dragged to the side. I can still smell her, taste her, feel her under me. It hasn't registered that we are separated. I can't see anything except her.

  Shoving off the arms restraining me, I take a step forward, only to have something slam into me from behind. My breath whooshes out and red-hot pain lances through me, yet I must reach her. Perhaps something in that rational, still-functioning part of my brain screams an alarm. Get her out of here, now!

  Shaking off the blow, I move forward, only to be yanked back again. I try to shake off the vampires holding me but find I can't.

  A jolt of fear pushes everything else out of my head as another vampire male approaches her.

  Tara's eyes dart to him. Understanding widens those green eyes. She slashes out at them with her knife.

  At the same, I reach for the sword. Wrenching it out, I swirl around, slashing through the necks of the males around me. Their cries merge with the smell of copper in the air.

  I turn back just in time to see her move. With a snarl, she flings herself on the male, bringing down the knife with a triumphant cry, and twists the blade. When she pulls it out, the blood fountains, bathing her in scarlet.

  Another massive hulk of a vampire rushes to her, and I leap forward. But I’m late. Too late. He swipes at her, and the knife goes flying. He grabs her hair and yanks back her head.

  "No!"

  I'm not aware I've yelled aloud, that I'm moving toward her; not until two more males step between us. I raise my sword, only for one of them to kick out. He hits my arm with such force that I hear the bones snap. Ruby's sword drops to the ground.

  Agony screeches through me, burning up my arm and neck and exploding behind my eyes.

  But that is nothing compared to the sheer fear that rips through me. For the male bends, sinking his fangs into her neck.

  She screams, a sound of terror that slams into my chest. I forget to breathe. Fear pounds through me. Raw, visceral. The kind I hoped to never face again.

  The echo of my own cry as Fia had thrown herself into the river.

  I will not let Tara die. I just found her; I cannot lose her. I'd give my own life before I let anything happe
n to her. Muscles straining, I heave against the two males, enough to send one flying. The other slides back and stops, only to spring forward again. Massive arms pumping, he thrusts me back, but I barely notice.

  All I see is the male in front raise his head. Blood drips from his fangs, staining her dress.

  Tara's body trembles, and her hands fall limp.

  When the vampire flings her aside, she falls to the ground, the blood pouring out of her...matting her hair.

  The other vampire in front picks up my sword, and raises it but I don't care. With another roar of fear, of rage, I fling off the male holding me and leap toward her, just as I sense a zing of silver. Pain rips through me.

  Shoving aside the fire that threatens to cut me in half, I seize the vampire and twist his neck. A satisfying snap echoes through the clearing before I shove the limp body aside, only to be grabbed from behind. Turning from the waist, I reach behind to grab my attacker. I give a grunt as I throw him, and he goes flying, crashing to the side.

  I keep moving, trying to get to her. To my Tara.

  Only my steps are slowing; a weight’s pulling me down. Another jolt of pain slams through me, and I grunt. Tearing my eyes off her, I glance down at the insistent throb that emanates from my chest. And I see the hilt Ruby’s sword protruding from me.

  Pushing the pain aside, I grit my teeth. Move. Dammit. Another step.

  Only…the scent of ozone overpowers me again as two more vampires rush into the clearing.

  One heads straight to her, and the other leaps at me. Grabbing the sword, he twists it before pulling it out. I scream as red-hot pain bursts through my veins, consuming me. Yet I force myself to keep moving, one step in front of the other. I must get to her before they hurt her, before they rip her apart.

  A second blow strikes my chest, my side, my legs. He pushes me back. Further. Away from her.

  Don't die, Tara, not now.

  Something inside me snaps, dissolves, a knot so tight I hadn't been aware it held me back. A flowing, coursing stream of turquoise and silver flows from me to her and pours over Tara. It pulses into her bloodstream and pushes back the angry black that's beginning to course through her. Vampire venom. I can help her fight it for Ascendants are immune to it. This much I can do for her. I can pour my strength, my essence, into her, to help her neutralize the venom and stay alive.