by Morgan Wylie
“Why, Father? Why are you doing this?” Alana begged from the other side of her father.
Arturo turned to glare at Alana, his eyes filled with hate and betrayal. “You, are no longer a daughter of mine to associate with this evil.” His face was red and seething, his hands clenched at his side, the only real emotion he had shown since he’d arrived.
Alana reared back as if she’d been slapped across the face; she might as well have been. Her throat grew tight, a lump forming there. Her father’s and her relationship hadn’t been one that she would brag to others about, but still… he was her father. And he had just disowned her.
Rylen charged forward. He may not have magic, but he knew how to fight without it. His intention to punch her father in the face was blocked by Eli jumping in front of the old man. “You call yourself her betrothed, but you let her father destroy her like that? What kind of man are you? Do you even love her?” Rylen shouted as he lunged forward, encroaching further into Eli’s personal space.
Eli waved the gun in Rylen’s face. “She betrayed him. She betrayed us all. I think that deserves a little punishment for a short time, don’t you? Isn’t that what you would do, oh dark leader?” Eli held the gun steady, pointed directly into Rylen’s face.
Rylen could still take him out, but he didn’t want to risk leaving Alana on her own. He had the feeling she was on her own entirely too much. If… when they got out of this alive, he had plans to remedy that. She would never be alone unless she wanted to be, and only then after she had been trained to protect herself. Her father left her with nothing but her own limited resources.
Eli kept babbling. “And as for the man I am? I am a good man, a righteous man who sees evil and takes it out of the paths of the innocents.” Rylen watched for an opening. He hunted every move Eli and the others on the roof made, stalking his prey with his eyes. The other guards were near Arturo, but they were giving signals that Rylen guessed meant to get the chopper ready to leave. This had to end now.
“Do you love me, Eli?” Alana’s quiet voice spoke volumes across the roof. She was not far behind both of them, still on her knees with Simmon holding onto her arm. She appeared small and fragile, but not defeated.
“Why do you ask that? You know how I feel about you, Lana,” he crooned at her using a nickname he had used with her.
“No, actually, I’m not sure I do. This was all arranged long before I was an adult. You never say it. Do. You. Love. Me?”
Eli’s eyes clouded, his shoulders sagged minutely. He faltered. Rylen took advantage of the moment, cocked his arm back, and slugged Eli in the face. Eli staggered back, gripping his face with one hand and trying to aim the gun with his other. Rylen came back with a round house kick, knocking the gun out of his hands and sent it soaring over the roof. He would have to remember to thank Mai for teaching him that move.
“Let’s fly boys,” Arturo’s words to his guards were heard over the fight now beginning.
“You’re leaving?” Alana cried out.
“Have a nice life, Alana, at least until your next.” Her father’s face fell for the briefest of moments and she could see the man he used to be. The one that tucked her in at night when she was a small child. The one who used to make time to play with her and help her with her studies and make her favorite dessert when she had a bad day. He turned to head to the helicopter fully intent on leaving her behind, but he stopped and looked back at her. “If you decide you can leave his kind in the dark where they belong, I’ll consider bringing you back into the fold.” His gaze fell to the ground as if deciding if there was something else he was going to add, but then he straightened his back and held his head high. He had washed his hands of his only daughter with a simple motion. Arturo motioned for his men to escort him into the helicopter.
Eli and Rylen fought fist to fist. They seemed almost evenly matched, until Eli struck a punch as Rylen glanced away to see Alana crumple to the ground, the terror of abandonment a pronounced expression on her beautiful face. His heart went out to her, but she was his distraction and Eli took advantage of it, the force of his hit throwing Rylen to the ground further away from her than he was before the fighting started.
“Simmon, get in here!” one of Arturo’s men shouted from the chopper. Simmon looked at Alana unsure what he was supposed to do with her now that they were leaving. “Boss says, ‘leave her.’ Let’s go,” the goon shouted again over the whirring sound of the chopper blades as they slowly gained speed in their rotation.
“Simmon, don’t let this be the end,” Rylen called to him from the ground. He stared at him for an awkward moment. “You always have a place with me.” Rylen wouldn’t beg. Simmon made his own decisions. Rylen did, however, hope. Simmon looked fragile like a lost sheep, but as soon as he saw Arturo’s face peering out from the small helicopter window, he dropped his eyes and moved toward it.
Eli went over to Alana and gripped both her upper arms too tightly, shaking her body roughly. “How could you give up your legacy like that? How could you do that to me? You just stripped me of any higher status I might have gotten through you. Bitch.” Eli spat in her face and threw her to the ground.
A shrieking roar ripped through the night, sending chills up the spines of any close enough to hear it. A large, black blur sped across the roof intent on tackling Eli where he stood. Rylen had shifted into a glorious and large black panther. His pelt was sleek, shiny, and black as night. His eyes glowed with fierce and feral power. Eli braced himself, ready as the giant feline attacked. He used the beast’s momentum and swung with him, launching the black cat into the air.
“NO!” Alana screamed with all the air her lungs could expel. She was on her feet running to the edge of the roof with her hands extended in the air out in front of her. Something happened. Alana’s magic awakened. As she went soaring off the roof following after the big black cat, her magic blindly imitated her intent to pull Rylen back to the safety of the roof. He was thrown back on the roof with a thud.
Rylen flipped himself over and sprinted back to the ledge and watched helplessly as she fell. Just like Gracie’s vision.
Eli scrambled off the roof floor where he watched with a strange glint in his eyes then ran toward the helicopter already lifting off the roof. Rylen looked back and watched as it rose into the dark night, but before it was out of sight, he saw Arturo looking past him out the window to where his daughter fell. With Rylen’s sharp eyesight, he saw what he thought must have been remorse and yet oddly, resignation.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
“Where am I?” A groggy female voice uttered in the darkness of the room. There was a low continuous beep every few seconds. Her throat, dry and scratchy, burned from recently used disinfectant.
“You’re in the medical lab of my Lair,” a male voice answered. His voice was smooth, intimate, and familiar… very familiar.
“Rylen?”
“It’s time to wake up, Alana. We have a lot to discuss,” Rylen spoke from right next to her. A lamp flickered on. Alana squinted her eyes, shielding them from the new light illuminating the room. Rylen was leaning back from switching the lamp on, sitting on an uncomfortable-looking plastic chair. Once her eyes adjusted she examined herself, looking for injuries.
“Am I dead? Oh my god, are we both dead?” Terrified Alana’s wide eyes found Rylen’s, but to her surprise his held a hint of humor.
“No, not yet. It takes a lot to kill me,” he said with a laugh and a wink.
“Am I hurt? What is that beeping?” She continued to look over her arms then her legs and pat down her stomach and move her back. Alana was still in the same clothes she had been wearing yesterday? Last night? Whenever the last time she was awake was.
“No, you are fine. I made sure myself,” he gave her a small smile as he watched her struggle to pull herself to a slightly seated position. She moved slowly, likely sore from her fall. He nodded to the other end of the room in a dark corner. “One of the survivors that we brought in from the other ni
ght got beat up a bit in the fight and needed a little extra attention.”
“The other night?” Alana glanced up at Rylen out of the corner of her eye. “How long have I been out?”
“A day and a half.” He watched her eyes grow wide. “It’s the afternoon of the second day you’ve been here.”
Alana looked small half-sitting on the medical cot. Her eyes filled with tears, threatening to spill over. She looked over to where a young man with multiple bandages and an IV drip was sleeping peacefully, his body still healing.
“His name is Jesse. He was wounded in the fight at the compound.” At her confused expression, he elaborated. “All those who were still held prisoner at your father’s compound were rescued. They had to fight their way out, but they’re safe. Thanks to you. Poppy said you told her how to get out.”
Rylen could see a myriad of emotions pass through her eyes, finally landing on one: resolution. Alana had come to a decision as the wetness in her eyes receded, and she pulled herself fully to a sitting position, bringing her on a more equal eye level with Rylen. He couldn’t help but feel proud of the woman his beast and he had chosen. His pride was swept back instantly and replaced with a cold feeling of dread. What if she didn’t choose me back? I should let her go. She won’t accept all of me… she shouldn’t… The expressions on his face shut down and it was back to business. Get her understanding the position she’s in, her options, and what happens now.
“What… what happened? I fell, I was falling… then darkness. That’s all I remember.” Alana shot her eyes to Rylen’s, needing him to fill in the blanks.
“No, you didn’t fall. You jumped!” Rylen’s voice was rough, his body was agitated, his legs bouncing swiftly in a steady beat, but it wasn’t enough. He stood abruptly, startling Alana, but he had to pace, he had to move. His cat and he remembered vividly, watching as she fell, as they helplessly stood by and couldn’t do anything to stop her.
“You’re angry?”
“Damn straight I’m angry. You risked your life. You could be dead. Not for me. Never again for me, Alana.” Rylen shot glances over to the other bed to make sure he hadn’t disturbed Jesse. Doc had reassured him that he had given him plenty of drugs to make him sleep all night, but still he didn’t want to wake him.
“You shouldn’t have had to die though. You have too much, too many depending on you,” she started, but he cut her off.
“I don’t die very well. You would’ve died for sure! And I couldn’t… I can’t…” Rylen had never been much for emotional words, but he wanted to try and get them out. He looked over at her watching him with some kind of understanding, and she offered him a respite.
“Why didn’t I die? How am I here?” She truly wanted to know too.
“Lucius was with me. He had been biding his time, waiting to come in and help me fight, but he wasn’t able to penetrate through the magic barrier your father put over the building. Apparently it kept both magic and people from entering it, like a dome. I still can’t believe I activated it.” He looked away so she wouldn’t see the flare of anger in his eyes, directed not toward her but himself. “I struggled, but my beast was still able to shift under the restraint. As soon as your father left, it released the hold it had on my magic, but there wasn’t time for me to shift back, and I can’t do magic as an animal.” Rylen softened his posture as his beast calmed within him. He gazed at Alana, caressing her face with his eyes and his magic. She closed her eyes and leaned slightly as if she could feel him stroking her face. She looked peaceful and content. Rylen moved in and sat on part of the little makeshift bed beside her. His fingers itched to touch her, but he wanted to know, needed to know for sure it was her choice to be there with him.
“Lucius saved me?”
“Sort of. He shifts into a bird, well, a gyrfalcon to be precise. He’s a large bird. When he saw you fall, he shifted and plucked you out of your freefall.”
Alana’s eyes were wide with wonder and disbelief. “No way he flew me all the way here, did he?”
Rylen chuckled. “No. In fact, he had just gotten a grip on you when he realized he couldn’t land without hurting you. But Enock was waiting on the ground in the exact spot you would have fallen, waiting to catch you. So he did.”
Alana’s whole body shot back into the wall. “What? How did he know I would be there?”
Rylen gave her a secretive smile. “Oh, we have our ways.”
“You’re not going to tell me?” Alana pouted. “After a story like that?”
Rylen gently grabbed her chin in his hands and stared into her eyes. He wore a friendly, yet distant smile. “I want to tell you everything. I want to share everything I am and have with you, Alana. I’ve chosen you.”
Alana’s face fell, the color draining out of it. She looked down at her hands, shaking in her lap. She clutched them together to stop them. Silent tears began streaming down the slopes of her cheeks.
“My own father didn’t choose me,” her breath shuttered as she inhaled, “why would you?”
Then Rylen placed his hand on one of her cheeks, resting it there. It was simple, but affectionate. Alana leaned into him. He tenderly wiped the tears still flowing with the pad of his thumb. Placing his other hand on her other cheek, he did the same until she was looking up at him, her eyes sparkling with freshly shed tears.
“Alana, I see you. I see who you are and I won’t try to change you. I accept and want all of you—the good and the bad,” he gave her a secretively seductive look, “especially, the bad.” He winked at her and watched her skin flush. Tenderly, he pushed the stray pieces of hair off her face and tucked them behind her ears.
“But the question is…” Rylen got up and paced again, agitated. He ran his fingers through his hair. “I know this is a lot for you take in all at once. What your father did to you was unforgivable.” He clenched his fists as his stare took on a vacant expression, his eyes shining with the barest hint of a glow—a surge of power—that was flooding within his body.
Something about the energy filtering through him at that moment caught Alana off guard and she watched him with new curiosity. Something was off about him, but he had been there, taken care of her, saved her. She could do the same for him. She swung her legs slowly off the cot, testing their strength while she did so. Feeling strong enough, she rose from her bed and moved cautiously toward him, keeping her eyes on his. As if he wasn’t aware of how close she had gotten, he flinched when she reached out and touched the skin on his forearm, trailing her hand lightly down to his fingers where she slid hers inside his. At her delicate soothing touch he uttered a rumbling sound from his chest. She laced her fingers within his with one hand, the other she placed on his chest and slid it slowly up to the source of the vibrations. Rylen closed his eyes momentarily at her soft touches. It centered him and brought his magic back from the edge of out of control. She centered him. He had waited for her for centuries and now she was here and was still out of reach until she gave herself fully to him, to be his mate in every manner.
“Alana,” he began but was cut off as she took his chin in her fingers and turned his head toward her and tilted it down so she could look into his eyes.
“Your eyes… they are beautiful. Just like your soul, Rylen,” she whispered watching his eyes dilate at her words.
“Alana, there’s much you don’t know about me,” again he was interrupted but this time by her mouth instead of her words. She had stood up on her tip toes and gently placed her lips against his. It was all he could do to remain under control the instant her flesh voluntarily touched his own. Rylen allowed her to lightly explore as she wished. Their mouths danced seductively as the kiss remained gentle and tentative. She freed her other hand and brought them both up and around his neck, pressing her body to his, their clothes the only barrier between them. His hands reached down and cupped her ass before slowly sliding them up her sides, holding her close. Nibbling and licking were suddenly not enough as a fire began to burn in his core. Sensing the
building passion, her tongue darted out, sliding across the seam of his mouth causing his to open for her. Their tongues mated vigorously until she gasped for air and tilted her head back exposing her neck to his wild ministrations.
“Rylen,” she panted, “I choose you.”
He stared deep in her eyes to see the truth of her statement and make sure it wasn’t just something in the heat of passion. He listened to her heart wildly beating with the exhilarated rush, didn’t hear fear or hesitation along with it. He slid his hand up through her hair and held the back of her head as he moved in close, his forehead touching her own.
“I believe you mean that, but there’s so much you need to know before you choose something like me. I’m often more beast than I am man,” he whispered out hoarsely.
“Rylen. I want all of you.” She returned his steady gaze. “All of you.”
It was all he needed to hear. With a hungry growl, he attacked her mouth and deepened the kiss, taking control and pulling her body in tight against his. He reached down, gripping one side of her butt slowly descending and lifting her leg as he went. She moaned into his mouth and pressed her core against his hard length as he showed her what her presence did to him. He kissed her as if she was the air he breathed, the only thing that held him to this earth, keeping him from losing the destructive force within him that he had barely reined in.
“I need you, Rylen,” her words stirred the embers of his passion even further. She trailed her hands down his shirt until she reached the hem and slid her hands up under it until she touched his cool smooth skin. His chest rumbled again at her touch. She giggled. “Are you purring?”
