I wheezed. “Only if you revoke what you’ve done.” I had to stick to my plan. “Inform your people I’m not a Halfling, and then promise me you’ll never lock me away in order to capture my father.”
“I can’t. My people’s safety comes first.”
“Then give me some breathing space. It hurts too much with you this close.”
He clasped my face in his hands, looked deep into my eyes. “Merge and the pain will be gone.”
“No.” I wiped my bleeding nose.
His eyes darkened, and he let out a low growl. “You walk a dangerous line with your actions. I’ll give you a minute and no more.” He walked away, boots thumping across the hard floor.
“Faith.” Belle flew into the room, the double doors crashing open. Zac, Viv and Silvie were hot on her heels. “See,” she said, breathing fast. “I told you she was back.”
I staggered to the wall, braced a hand on it as Davio paced a parallel line five strides from me. “She may be back, but she is more stubborn than ever.” He glared at Belle. “See what you can do.”
Belle eyed me, her hand extended. “I can alleviate some of the pain. Let me touch you. It’s bad. I can feel it.”
As she advanced, I withdrew my sword. “Don’t you dare tap into me as you did the last time.” I drew in a breath, and it rattled around in my chest. “This fight is between Davio and me. I need him in every way, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally.” I faced him. “Please. You can’t lock me up or use me as leverage against those I love. Just days ago you said no skill could kill. So that means in your eyes, it can’t be necessary for me to merge. You also said I’m a Halfling, but I say that’s not true. Open your eyes and see that I hold a skill given to me by my mother’s line. You have to revoke what you’ve said.” More blood dribbled from my nose.
He grimaced. “When did your nose start bleeding?”
“I’ve been working out with my father, too hard obviously.” More drips, a steady stream, and far more than I expected. I pinched my nose, but the blood continued to flow.
“Then merge.” His knuckles turned white as he fisted his hands.
“Why is it you want me to merge so badly? You don’t think this skill can kill. In your estimation I’ll be fine just like this.” My vision wavered, and I blinked to bring it back into focus. “Being near you and withholding is accelerating my death. I can feel it.”
“Enough. You aren’t dying, not when you can fast-heal. Zac, Silas. Disarm her, but do it gently. Viv head in behind.” He glared at me. “You stand there, and I can’t do a damn thing.”
I lifted my sword against Zac and Silas’s divided approach. Zac came at me from the front and Silas from the side. Viv was right behind them. “You do what you need to, and I’ll do what I need to.”
I met Zac head on, using Alexo’s fast move to spin and dodge. I dealt with him then caught Viv’s strike. Silas thrust his blade at me, and I met his advance next, our swords clashing.
For the barest moment, my heart soared, and in the next, a hot burn tore through my lungs. I held up a hand, bent half over and grabbed for air. “Cease.”
I shuddered as liquid filled my lungs, slammed a hand to my chest and heaved. Blood gushed from my mouth and splattered the floor.
“She’s bleeding internally,” Zac bellowed, kneeling in front of me.
Viv pulled the sword from my hand, and Silas gripped my arms.
Silvie screamed, but I barely heard her. I shoved against Silas, swept my leg low and kicked him.
Then everything blurred and my own heart stuttered within my chest. I dropped to my knees.
Silas caught me around the waist from behind and jerked me back up. Bending over me, his hands fisted into my stomach, he wrenched. “Cough it out. All of it.”
He shoved his fist in hard again, and a racking spasm took me. More blood.
“Now merge with Davio before you die,” he growled in my ear.
I lifted my chin, found Davio. He stood, his face ghostly white. “There’s so much blood.” He stared at the floor. “Too much blood.”
“There will also be death before capture. I promise you that.”
He dropped to one knee, not breaching the mark which would end my life, the stricken look in his eyes showing he now believed too. “You have a strength skill passed onto you through your mother’s line, and it’s a deadly one. You are a full-blooded Magioling and everyone here has heard me. Silas will spread the word.”
“And you promise not to imprison me?” I needed his promise. Everything hindered on it. “My father will not fall for any future ploy. You know I don’t”—I scraped in air—“lie.”
Pleading, he shoved out one hand. “Merge with me and it will be as you ask.”
I closed my eyes and allowed my mind its release.
From darkness to light.
I fell into him.
He held me tight
Such strong arms.
So warm.
“You truly are the most difficult mate ever.” Hoarse words, and they seemed so far away. “I swear you will never do this to me again, Faith. Do you hear me? You’re my mate, always mine.”
I couldn’t lift my heavy eyelids.
* * * *
“How does she feel to you?”
A voice echoed in my head.
“If you let her go for a second, maybe I could tell.”
Was that Belle?
A rocking motion, lips pressed to my brow. “It’s been hours, Belle.”
“Yes, but she no longer bleeds, and I need to clean her up. Faith will not want to wake up this way. You can still feel her mind-merge?”
“Yes.”
The voices drifted away.
And the dark welcomed me again.
Water splashed. A soft cloth brushed my face, my arms and my chest. Warm and soothing, water flowed over my body.
The dark still clutched ahold of me, but it was receding.
“I’ll carry her.” A deep voice. Davio’s. I’d never mistake his tone for another. “Wake up, love. If you don’t stir soon, you’ll leave me with no choice. I’ll have to go after your father.”
That wasn’t happening. I wouldn’t allow it.
“Silvie is threatening to pull me apart, limb from limb for what I’ve made you go through. She said she’d make it hurt.”
I smiled for Silvie surely would.
A finger brushed over my lips. “That’s it, wake up for me.”
I pushed the receding dark fully away and blinked my eyes open. Brown eyes flecked with gold searched mine. Davio. There’d been so much blood, and pain. The battle for my own life and Dad’s had been fought, and I’d won. “You almost left it too late,” I rasped, touching a hand to my throat.
He lifted me higher in his lap where he sat on a couch in the rec room. “It’ll never happen again.” Two tears slid free of his eyes and streaked down his cheeks. “I love you. I never want to go through a day like this again. Losing you would have killed me.”
With a shaky hand, I wiped his tears away. “And your mind is open, not blocked at all as it usually is. Are you feeling all right?”
He caught my hand and pressed my palm against his cheek. “I had hoped to shock you awake by remaining unblocked, but it didn’t work.” He blocked quickly, and I couldn’t help but smile.
At least I could always trust in the knowledge that he would.
From the side table, he nabbed a glass and held it to my lips. “Your throat’s dry. Drink.”
I sipped then gasped as I caught my now changed state. Someone had removed my cat-suit and clothed me in a pair of blue jeans and a thick white sweater. “I seem to remember water.” I edged up a little on his lap and did a quick search of the rec room for anyone else, although we remained alone. “Who aided me?”
“Belle and Silvie gave you a bath.”
He took the glass from my shaky fingers. “You’re still healing, so lie still.”
Footsteps echoed and Silvie breezed throu
gh the door. Shaking her head at me as she approached, she muttered, “So, finally you’re awake. Three days of worry and sleeplessness and page turning with Belle, just to find out you have a lost skill that can kill.” She stopped in front of me and flicked my leg with her finger. “You’re a full-blooded Magioling. It’s no wonder your rising took so long. The signs were all there.”
Yes, they had been.
Davio groaned, his lips pursed in a grim line. “Hell, it’s all my fault. I should have listened to you. You’re mine to care for, and never will I make the mistake of putting your life on the line again.”
“You mean that?”
“You are my first priority.”
I soaked in the sight of him, for I couldn’t get enough. “Then I love you too.”
His gaze softened. “You are more precious to me than you can imagine.”
I grinned. “I think this is where we kiss and make up. You wanna get to that now?”
“No kissing.” Silas strode in, and halted beside Silvie.
I sent him a daggered look. “For goodness sake. You have the worst possible timing.”
He crossed his arms. “If you go pulling that kind of stunt again, I won’t be held responsible for my actions.” He eyed Davio. “Have her swear her allegiance to you, so none of this damn nonsense ever goes down again.”
Davio laughed. “Get out of here. I was just about to do that.”
“Gladly.” He took Silvie’s arm and blinked away.
Davio pulled me closer. “Right, now repeat after me.”
I clapped a hand over his mouth. “Don’t even go there. There will be no swearing of allegiance.”
Because Dralion was my home and my relationship with Davio wasn’t only about the two of us. No. The scope was much broader.
There was Guy Moyer’s lost warrior father to locate and many others. And I was a full-blooded Wincrest, one who had the chance to right a very bad wrong.
Davio’s arms tensed, his hold tightening on me. “Okay, what are you thinking right now? Because I can tell by the look on your face it’s entirely wrong.”
I hooked my fingers into the front of his shirt and held on. “Just that loving you is going to be a wild ride. Are you ready for it?”
He took my face between his hands and kissed me, so urgently that a wild ride began. “I’ll deal,” he murmured between kisses. “Somehow.”
I hope you enjoyed this first book in this exciting new series.
Coming Next
Warrior, (Book 2)
Hunter #2.5, (Short Story)
Enchanter, (Book 3)
Healer, (Book 4)
Chaser, (Book 5)
Pirate Princess, (Book 6)
All books in this series are standalone.
If you don’t wish to miss any of my upcoming releases, then feel free to sign up to my newsletter to catch those dates. Receive a FREE Starter Library when you do. https://app.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r6s8r2
Warrior, Book 2 - Next in This Series
Warrior, (Book 2)
Hope and Silas’s Story
Hunter, Book #2.5
Hunter #2.5, (Short Story)
Lieska’s Story, Available Now
Enchanter, Book 3
Enchanter, (Book 3)
Silvie’s Story
Healer, Book 4
Healer, (Book 4)
Belle’s Story
Chaser, Book 5
Chaser, (Book 5)
Goldie’s Story
Pirate Princess, Book 6
Pirate Princess, (Book 6)
Amarisa Sol’s Story
Joanne Wadsworth
Joanne Wadsworth is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author who adores getting lost in the world of romance, no matter what era in time that might be. Hot alpha Highlanders hound her, demanding their stories are told and she’s devoted to ensuring they meet their match, whether that be with a feisty lass from the present or far in the past.
Living on a tiny island at the bottom of the world, she calls New Zealand home. Big-dreamer, hoarder of chocolate, and addicted to juicy watermelons since the age of five, she chases after her four energetic children and has her own hunky hubby on the side.
So come and join in all the fun, because this kiwi girl promises to give you her “Hot-Highlander” oath, to bring you a heart-pounding, sexy adventure from the moment you turn the first page. This is where romance meets fantasy and adventure…
To learn more about Joanne and her works, visit:
Website: http://www.joannewadsworth.com
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Other Series by Joanne Wadsworth
As Follows…
The Matheson Brothers Series
Highlander’s Desire, (Book 1)
Highlander’s Passion, (Book 2)
Highlander’s Seduction, (Book 3)
Highlander’s Kiss, (Book 4)
Highlander’s Heart, (Book 5)
Highlander’s Sword, (Book 6)
Highlander’s Bride, (Book 7)
Highlander’s Caress, (Book 8)
Highlander’s Touch, (Book 9)
Highlander’s Shifter, (Book 10)
Highlander’s Claim, (Book 11)
Highlander’s Courage, (Book 12)
Highlander’s Craving, (Book 13)
Highlander Heat Series
Highlander’s Castle, (Book 1)
Highlander’s Magic, (Book 2)
Highlander’s Charm, (Book 3)
Highlander’s Guardian, (Book 4)
Highlander’s Faerie, (Book 5)
Highlander’s Champion, (Book 6)
Highlander’s Captive, (Short Story Book 7)
Regency Brides Series
The Duke’s Bride, (Book 1)
The Earl’s Bride, (Book 2)
The Wartime Bride, (Book 3)
The Earl’s Secret Bride, (Book 4)
The Prince’s Bride, (Book 5)
Billionaire Bodyguards Series
Billionaire Bodyguard Attraction, (Book 1)
Billionaire Bodyguard Boss, (Book 2)
Billionaire Bodyguard Fling, (Short Story Book 3)
Princesses of Myth Series
Protector, (Book 1)
Warrior, (Book 2)
Hunter #2.5, (Short Story)
Enchanter, (Book 3)
Healer, (Book 4)
Chaser, (Book 5)
Pirate Princess, (Book 6)
If you enjoyed this story, please consider leaving a review.
Reviews help authors tremendously, and also help other readers find books.
Thank you.
~ Joanne
Copyright: Protector
Copyright © 2012, Joanne Wadsworth
Cover Art by Joanne Wadsworth
First electronic publication: January 2013
Re-edited – Second electronic publication: September 2016
Joanne Wadsworth
http://www.joannewadsworth.com
eBooks are not transferable. All Rights Reserved. This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE:
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental. The author does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.
Protector: A Young Adult / New Adult Fantasy Novel Page 27
