by J Thompson
But she wouldn’t make it easy for them.
“Come. It’s time we went home, Sula.”
“No,” she answered. “You don’t own me.”
“Wrong.” Marcus countered followed by a back hand to the face that took her to the floor. His putrid breath covered her face as he leaned over her.
“You are mine, Sula. You have been since you were born.” He grabbed her from the back of the neck, pressing on the fresh wound and causing her to cry out.
“The only way you will be leaving again, my dear, is when you are dead.” Lifting her off her feet, he threw her into the waiting arms of one of the lackeys.
“Take her to the car and make sure she stays there too,” he ordered.
Sula fought against the tears that threatened to fall.
Damian…
IT HAD BEEN A LONG, hard day of training at court, none of which Damian remembered once he’d left. Every step, every turn in the car took him closer to the little bird who occupied his mind and his thoughts. He’d spent the morning calling his contacts, trying to get information on the men—no, creatures, he wouldn’t call them men—who had taken her. So far, no one knew anything, but he wasn’t worried. Even if it took years, someone somewhere would talk. Something would shake loose and he would track them down.
Training had been… interesting. In his preoccupation that asshole Joseph had managed to land a couple of solid blows, which meant Damian was now sporting the mother of all black eyes. His own fault. He shouldn’t have been daydreaming about Sula as she had been this morning, all wrapped up in his arms, warm and sleepy. It had taken all the strength he had to leave her there sleeping when every male instinct he had urged him to roll her over and learn the shape of her lips all over again.
He closed his eyes for a second as he waited for the lights at the intersection to change. He had to keep control of himself, hide the primitive male urges that surged through his blood.
Damian…
Hell, he was even hearing her voice in his head now. He had it bad. Real bad.
The lights changed, finally, and he pulled away, his foot heavy on the accelerator as the need to get back to her increased. And increased. Became an itch, one that needed to be scratched. He frowned, gasping as his scales brushed against the inside of his skin.
What the fuck, dude? he snarled mentally as his dragon tried to push through, its mind filled with growls and panic. Grimly, he fought the change as the car fishtailed at the back end a little. He’d never been so close to losing control in all his adult life.
Ouuuuuurrrrssss… Suuuuullllaaa… It hissed, still fighting him. He growled and it subsided until another voice joined it in his head.
Damian, please…
He put his foot down, the powerful car roaring as it sped up. He needed to get home. Now.
There… theretherethere… His dragon yammered as a car pulled out of the road in front of them. It was a black SUV with nothing unusual about it, but the sense of panic and dread that washed over him from the connection with his dragon made him feel sick.
Damian…
Sula was in that car. How he knew, he had no clue, but he did.
Yanking the steering wheel around, he grabbed the handbrake and turned the car. Metal groaned and tires squealed as he threw the back end around and then floored the accelerator. The engine roared, the big sports car taking off in pursuit of the SUV, and he thanked any god that might be listening that Sawyer had insisted they all learn human-style protection skills, like high speed pursuits driving.
The black SUV slowed just enough for Damian to catch up, briefly giving him a chance to catch the registration plate. He committed the number to memory before he dropped a gear and accelerated, nudging the SUV with his bumper. His grin was more feral and showed more teeth as the need to stop the car ate at him. That small voice that belonged to Sula had vanished, making his dragon claw at his insides. He nudged the bumper again before he veered sharply to the side, pulling alongside the SUV. All the windows were tinted, giving him zero clue as to who was driving. Whoever it was had no idea who they were dealing with.
Poor unfortunate bastards.
Unexpectedly, the SUV veered into Damian, the impact jolting him to the side so hard he almost lost his grip on the wheel. His dragon came to the rescue, claws bursting from the ends of his fingertips to punch into the leather cover. He snarled, turning the wheel and pushing back with the speeding car. Metal creaked and groaned as they tussled for dominance on the road. He gripped the steering wheel tighter, his arms fighting to hold the car in position as he careened to the side. If he could trap the SUV between him and the central barrier, he could force it to a stop.
His lips curled back from his teeth in a ferocious grin.
Then they were fucked, and not in a good way.
Oncoming traffic swerved to miss them as they veered out onto the road before Damian was able to force them back against the barrier.
Big mistake.
His foot flat to the floor, he gunned the engine and slammed back into the SUV. With a screech, it hit with enough force it somersaulted over the barrier. The metal of vehicle bent and buckled as the car rolled lazily down the embankment. Damian’s heart stopped in his chest, time slowing as he watched in horrified fascination.
Sula…his little bird…what had he done?
He slammed the brakes on his car and was out the door before it had come to a complete stop. His dragon was screaming in his mind to find his dot. He vaulted over the barrier and slid down the slope to where the crumpled SUV sat, smoke rising from the engine.
Both front doors hung open, the driver and whoever the passenger had been nowhere to be seen.
“Sula!”
His voice roared into the night air, both dragon and man feeling the anguish of loss.
“Sula,” he called out again, his ears straining for any sign, any whisper of sound that would tell him she still lived. He reached out to tear open the door at the back, but a rumble sounded from deep within. Before he could lay a hand on the door, the rumble became a growl, which became a thunderclap as the SUV exploded into a ball of flame.
The force of the blast knocked him flying backward, his thin shirt no protection against the bite of the asphalt.
But he didn’t feel the pain. He didn’t feel anything other than the sudden, ragged hole where his heart had been. Where Sula had been. She’d been wound so tightly around his heart and soul that he only realized now, when she was gone, that she had been there.
Noooo, ourrrrrsss! his dragon screamed in pain. Ourrrrr mate!
Their mate. His mate. Damian screamed, the sounds of pain and loss echoing that of his dragon’s. Sula had been their mate, the edges of the soul bond pulsing in agony to the beat of his heart. A heart that stuttered with loss and pain.
Hands grabbed at his arms, stopping him from running into the fire. He had to get to her although a part of him knew no one could have survived that blast. Not even a dragon in human form. His little dot had no chance.
“Get off me,” he roared only to be ignored and dragged farther away from the burning wreckage. Smaller explosions went off randomly as fuel and other flammable liquids were released.
His dragon’s bellows in his head grew louder and louder in an attempt to get him to shift but he ignored it. How could he shift again with Sula gone?
“Wow, a black. This should be fun,” a guttural voice ground out and was answered by laughter.
“Awww he lost his little birdie,” another teased.
“Bring him,” another voice called out.
Damian lost count of the other shifters that surrounded him as he knelt on the ground in the dirt, watching the SUV burn. His little bird had been inside. Nothing mattered anymore, not without Sula. She had filled a part of him he had never realized needed filling. She had been home for him.
“Look at me, black,” the harsh voice ordered.
Damian knew then and there this was it for him. Yes, he was a black. Fie
rce and strong even unbeatable, but without his mate he was nothing. His face swung to the owner of the voice, eyes black with his dragon meeting the bright green on green of a gorgon. A male one, go figure.
“Fuck you,” he snarled as his body reacted to the gaze of the gorgon.
His skin changed. Muscles changed to solid stone. As Damian’s heart stopped, the car exploded one last time, flames reaching into the night sky and creating a firework display that signaled the fall of a great warrior.
A black was dead.
CHAPTER 8
F ire washed over her, caressing her skin in lover-like strokes. Sula relaxed into its embrace with a grateful sigh. Warmth the like of which she’d never known before eased her bones, rolled through her veins and reinvigorated every cell.
But through it all, she knew this was wrong. There was something she was missing. The grogginess of semi-consciousness gave way to alertness. She blinked, seeing the flames in front of her eyes and all around her.
Wake up!
She frowned, blinking as she heard Damian’s demand in her head. But it wasn’t Damian. The voice was different. Higher, more melodic. Female.
What the…
Sula’s eyes snapped open. Fire and smoke filled her gaze, yet she wasn’t afraid. Instead she reached a hand out and caressed the dancing flames. They swirled around her skin, heating but never hurting. She turned her hand, making the flames dance a jig.
Stop playing!
The voice sounded again, but this time annoyance laced the tone.
“Who are you?”
Who do you think? Look within, Sula.
Sula closed her eyes briefly and did as asked, looking deep inside herself. There perched was a phoenix—not just any phoenix but her phoenix. The voice of her inner self had retreated and Sula had feared she would never hear from her again.
After all these years, and all the torture she had endured, she had in fact survived.
You, she breathed and was rewarded with a gentle caress against her mind.
You are not healed yet. You know what you need to do.
Sula nodded to herself and kept her eyes closed. She reached her hands out to the side and let the flames have her, engulf her, send her to ash.
This was what it meant to be a phoenix, to embrace the fire and be reborn like no other.
The explosion of the car rocked through her, but instead of incinerating her, it did the opposite, sending her into the sky in a mix of fire and ash. Healing her completely.
As she rose from the fire, she watched the scene below. She watched as the owner of her heart was turned to stone.
Pain erupted from her chest and she screamed her loss for the world to hear, her soul fracturing and wanting to be with Damian but unable to leave her.
She felt the connection. As her mate’s soul died, hers exploded, giving her one last gift. Giving her the power she needed to not only avenge him but get her own revenge and gain her freedom.
Sula embraced the power and used it. Opening her mouth, she released a torrent of dragon fire that coated not only her mate in his stone tomb but her captors as well. She reveled in their pain. Reveled in their screams of torment.
Yet she didn’t stop.
Only when nothing remained but ash did she fall to the ground and make her way to her mate. Even in stone he looked strong, defiant. Hers.
“Damian…no,” she sobbed and dropped to her knees, her fingers caressing his stone chest. Tears fell freely down her cheeks.
“I’m so sorry,” she cried reaching up she wrapped her arms around his stone shoulders, hugging them tightly. Needing to be close to him.
“This is all my fault.” Her voice echoed in the night as her phoenix sobbed in her mind.
He was our mate. Our mate…
Sula nodded as the tears this time erupted into hysterical crying.
“Damian,” she called out his name. “Damian.”
DAMIAN… Damian…
The voice called him back from the void. Damian was dead, and he knew it. The icy coldness of nothing had wrapped around him. His dragon was silent, a dead weight around his heart and soul as he floated in the blackness toward whatever fate awaited him.
What it was, what it turned out to be… he didn’t care. Nothing, no hell or torture that could be inflicted on him was as bad as the knowledge that his mate was dead.
His own death he could handle… that was nothing. He’d long ago come to terms with the fact that he wouldn’t die comfortably in his bed of old age. Blacks rarely did. He’d always known that his death would likely be early and violent.
But the unending anguish of knowing his mate was dead tore his heart out and shattered it to a million pieces. If he wasn’t already dead, the pain of such knowledge would have stopped his heart instantly. He keened, the sound in the darkness full of pain and misery. His little dot, who’d only known cruelty her whole life, had finally been killed by the assholes who had made her existence a misery.
Damian…
A voice called out to him in the darkness. One so full of sorrow that at first he thought it was his own. But the voice was softer, feminine… definitely not his.
He stilled in the blackness to listen. Just the sound eased the agony in his heart, soothed his soul and he relaxed. It sounded like his little dot, and he couldn’t think of anything he’d like to listen to as the last thing he ever heard than the sound of her voice… even if it was a trick of his own dying brain.
The sound grew louder, sobs between his name. Heat washed over him, warming his ice-cold body from the outside in. Flesh that had been as unyielding as stone began to ease. They’d had a gorgon with them, and just one look from its green on green eyes had frozen him to stone in a heartbeat.
His fingertips flexed, toes wriggling. Just once, but it was enough. Sound and sensation came back in a rush but he couldn’t move. Couldn’t see.
“Damian…”
He had to be dreaming because the voice… that sounded like dot. He frowned as he fought to open his eyes, not yet released from the spell of stone. It couldn’t be dot. She’d died in the explosion… had to have died. There was no way anything could have survived that.
Hot tears washed down his neck, over his chest, the sound of heartbroken sobbing right in his ear. It was dot, her tiny body plastered against his as she clung to his enchanted form.
The spell broken, he dragged in a ragged breath, his heart slamming to life within his chest as his dragon roared within.
“Dot,” he groaned, lifting his arms to wrap them around her and hold her close to his chest.
His hands delved into hair. That was his first clue that things had changed. Tipping his face back, he looked down at dot only to see a head no longer bald but covered in the most luxurious hair he had ever seen. The light from the fires that still blazed pulled golds, reds and oranges. The waves fell down her back almost hitting her ass.
“Dot?” he questioned and when she turned those golden eyes on him, he was lost. This was his mate although not as he had ever seen her before.
“Is this really you? I’m not… imagining you, am I?”
“No, Damian, this is really me.” She smiled but tears rolled down her cheeks and wiped the smile away. “I thought I had lost you. I’m so, so sorry.”
“Shhhhh, it’s okay.” He pulled her to him again, his cheek resting against the soft locks, and this time he turned his face into her hair and took a deep breath. She was here. She wasn’t dead.
“Dot, how did you…” he started to ask, his own gut twisted at the memory of how it felt to see the explosion and know she was gone.
“Damian,” she started, her voice quiet and shy as she pulled back from him. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
SULA’S BLOOD thumped through her veins. The adrenaline of her rise had her buzzing with a mixture of emotions. When she had seen her mate turned to solid stone, she had reacted on instinct. Due to the bond that had been made between her and Damian, she had been a
ble to do what few races could—access her mate’s power and use it against those who had hurt him.
The feeling of empowerment had been highly addictive as she had channeled his very own dragon fire and burned her owner and his lackeys to ash. The weight she had felt on her shoulders nearly all of her life had vanished, and she had truly risen then, ready to live her life. But the only person she wanted to spend it with was gone.
Or so she thought. She knew her tears had healing properties but she hadn’t realized the extent fully until this moment.
Her tears had done what nothing else ever could.
Bring someone back from the stare of a gorgon.
Bring someone back from death itself.
“Dot?” Damian questioned again, and she realized she had been sitting there staring at him. She had promised to tell him who and what she was but the nerves of the past were hard to overcome.
“I’m not just a bird shifter,” she started and focused on stroking his large palm where it rested in both of her own hands. “I’m a little more exotic than that,” she whispered, only to have Damian reach a finger under her chin and tilt her face up to meet his own gaze.
“Tell me, dot.”
Love shined brightly from his dark orbs and gave her the courage to tell him her biggest secret.
“I’m a phoenix,” she blurted out and waited for his reaction, visions of him casting her away or selling her on to another owner filtering through her mind only to be silence by Damian’s deep voice in her head.
Never going to happen, little one. You are mine.
The words had barely registered before Sula found herself surrounded by her mate as his lips descended upon hers in a claiming kiss that rocked her right down to her very soul.
He kissed her like his life depended on it, like a man who had lost everything and she was his one single lifeline. Holding her close, his strong arms wrapped around her—protective and possessive all at the same time. She whimpered in the back of her throat, heat of a different kind blazing through her as she tried to get closer.
