“He’s still coming for me, isn’t he?” she asked as he lowered her onto the bed.
Dariun eased her across the sheet until there was room for him to lie down next to her. “Yes,” he replied as he gathered her in his arms. “But I’ll be ready for him.”
She looked up at him pleadingly. “I need you, Dariun.”
“Elena…”
“Make love to me tonight.”
“It’s too dangerous.”
“I might die tomorrow.” She looked up at him pleadingly. “Please, Dariun, give me this one last night. You don’t have to kiss me.”
Looking into her big, beautiful, frightened eyes, his will to refuse her anything faded into nothingness. He reached for the hem of her t-shirt, pulling it up over her head. Then he lowered his mouth to a taut, rosy peak, a warrior on a mission. His mission that night – to pleasure Elena until she could take no more.
CHAPTER FIVE
Dariun frowned as he watched the first rays of the morning sun stretched up into the still darkened sky. This was it, the final day of the moon cycle. He had to stay focused. Had to protect Elena from Brakkar until dusk came.
He glanced toward the bed where Elena lay sleeping, her beautiful face so serene in slumber. He hated to wake her, but the choice was not his.
He cast one final glance out the window at the beach then released the blinds. Crossing the room, he stood beside the bed. “Elena,” he said, his voice calm, quiet.
She stirred but did not wake.
He reached out, tenderly running a hand along her cheek. “Elena, you must wake.”
She groaned in protest and pulled the sheet up over her head to block his urgings.
Dariun smiled at the effort before playfully tugging the sheet away. He’d forgotten about her state of undress and felt the punch of desire hit his gut as his gaze moved over her nakedness.
He forced his gaze back to her face. “Elena, dawn is breaking. We must merge before Brakkar returns.”
Her eyes flickered open. “Merge?”
“Our joining aids me in protecting you.”
“I take it we’re not talking about the same kind of joining we did last night.”
He shook his head with a grin. “Not quite. And it can only be done for a few hours. Hopefully Brakkar will come within that time period.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“I’ll protect you either way.”
“How do we merge?”
“I become one with your body and prepare to defend it from Brakkar.”
“Will it hurt?”
“You won’t feel a thing,” he assured her. But he would. He would feel every ounce of desire he had for her, only intensified. He would force those desires from his mind and hold Brakkar off.
“What do I do?” she asked worriedly.
“Get dressed then I need you to stand with your back to me.”
She slipped from the bed and walked over to the dresser where she pulled out a pair of black lace underwear, cut off jean shorts and a tie-dyed tank top, dressing as quickly as she could. When she was done, she made her way back to where he stood. “I’m ready.”
He stepped forward to press his form to her warm body. Nuzzling her hair, he took in her sweet scent, wanting to remember it long after he’d gone.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “You have to believe that I will protect you.”
“I’m not afraid,” she answered bravely. “I trust you completely.”
With her unwavering trust, he could keep her safe. Smiling, Dariun melded into her body, joining his shadowy form to her human one. He was now her true shadow.
Elena moaned.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
“I feel...it’s like you’re inside me again.”
He wished he were in that way. Unfortunately, the only pleasure he would receive from being joined with Elena was that of defeating Brakkar.
* * *
Hours passed and still no sign of Brakkar, but Dariun knew better than to let down his guard. Not even for a moment. The rogue guard would come before his window of opportunity closed.
“I hope you’re hungry,” Elena said as she fixed herself lunch. “Because I’m going to eat and since we’ve joined it means you’ll be eating too.”
Before he could reply and tell her that he hungered, but for something other than food, a wisp of black filtered into the room a few feet away.
Elena gasped.
“Brakkar,” Dariun growled as the smoke took shape.
“I’ve come for my life force,” he said, drifting closer.
“It’s my life force, not yours!” Elena exclaimed as she backed away from the advancing shadow.
The rogue shadow threw his head back and released a roar of laughter that shook the walls. “A human female with spirit. Imagine that.”
“You’ll never get it,” Dariun warned with a scowl.
“Your brother said the same thing. And that human’s life force is now locked away for my pleasure. As will your brother’s be once I’m through torturing him.”
So Tebolt was indeed Brakkar’s prisoner as surmised. Hopefully Treynor was as well. There was strength in numbers. They just had to stay strong until he could go in search of them.
“Tebolt will never give in to your kind. He will hold out.”
“Quo usque tandem.”
“For how much longer,” Elena repeated, her voice quivering.
Brakkar’s cold gaze shifted to her face. “You can understand our language, human?”
She raised her chin bravely as she faced him. “I studied Latin in college.”
His hiss signaled his disapproval with that fact.
“Don’t speak to him, Elena,” Dariun ordered.
Brakkar stepped closer, leaning in to scent her. “Why not? Aah,” he moaned, sniffing at the air. “Dulce periculum.”
Danger is sweet. Dariun’s fists curled at his sides, at Elena’s sides. “You will not have her.”
“As you have had her already?”
Dariun didn’t give him the satisfaction of a reply.
Brakkar circled them. “So Dariun Lethos has been ‘touched’ by a human. Perhaps I’ll be ‘touched’ by her myself before I collect her precious life force.”
“You’ll never lay your evil hands on me,” Elena exclaimed then spun about to run from the room.
“Elena, don’t,” Dariun ordered as she swept him along with her.
A second later, he was yanked from her body. In her panic, Elena had taken back her trust and in doing so had severed their connection. He watched as she fled the beach house in terror.
“Elena!”
Brakkar took advantage of Dariun’s distraction by throwing him up against the wall. His shadowed form sank deep into the drywall, sending dust up into the air in a wide spray.
Dariun pushed free of it and charged the rogue guard, sending Brakkar stumbling backwards through the picture glass window. Unlike Dariun, Brakkar had prepared for the contact and passed through the glass without so much as cracking it to land on the deck below. The one that ran along the back side of the beach house.
Dariun followed, his hands closing around Brakkar’s neck as they rolled across the weathered boards. He had to cut off the rogue guard’s breath and render him unconscious to take him prisoner.
Brakkar thrust his hands up between Dariun’s and forced him to break his hold. Then he flashed to his feet. “Face it, Lethos,” he hissed, “Morscerta, hora incerta. But I will have her.”
Death is certain, its hour is uncertain.
Dariun flashed to stand between the rogue guard and Elena’s distant fleeing form, prepared to fight for her life force. A task that would have been a hell of a lot easier had she held her trust in him and listened to his instructions. Her fear and subsequent flight from the beach house had broken the protective seal he’d placed over her. Had something similar happened to his brother as well?
He didn’t have to glance back over his shoulder
to know that Elena had was running across the beach below. His focus remained on Brakkar.
Brakkar leered. “It appears your pretty little human has changed her mind about having you protect her.”
“I would have to argue that. I believe it was the thought of having something as foul as you touch her that sent her into flight,” Dariun replied, his tone icy cold.
With a growl, Brakkar lunged for him, sending them both catapulting down the deck stairs.
Run! her mind screamed. Run!
But something stronger was pulling Elena back, halting her steps.
She turned to see Dariun and the rogue shadow locked in a heated battle, tumbling down the steep stairs of her beach house. A fall that would have killed any human. But Dariun was immortal. That meant he couldn’t die, didn’t it?
Then she recalled Brakkar’s taunts about Dariun’s brother. Would Dariun meet the same fate as his brother had because of her panicked escape?
No, her heart cried out. She couldn’t let that happen.
“Dariun!” she called out as she raced back to help him, drawing strange looks from vacationers walking along the water’s edge. They couldn’t see what was happening. Couldn’t understand that the only man – shadow - she trusted in the world was fighting to save her life.
Her lungs ached as she raced through the deep sand to where Dariun and Brakkar struggled in a violent tussle at the base of the stairs.
She jumped out of the way as Dariun’s whispery form sailed past her, landing hard in the sand. She opened her mouth to scream his name again, but was silenced as a strong arm closed around her ribs, squeezing the breath from her lungs.
“No!” Dariun shouted as he clamored to his feet and started for her.
“Come any closer and I’ll snap this slender little neck,” Brakkar warned, his fingertips easing up the slender column of her throat. “Imagine how awful it’ll be for her to lie there paralyzed, unable to resist me as I drain the life force from her body.”
“Let her go.”
“Or what?” Brakkar growled as his grip on her throat tightened.
She was dying, being slowly strangled. Who would care if she died? She had no family. And Ryan had seen to it during their marriage that she’d had no friends to turn to.
“Tell me, Lethos, would you offer yourself in her place?” the evil shadow taunted.
“Yes,” Dariun replied without hesitation.
No! she mouthed in a silent plea. He couldn’t do that. His brother needed him.
Brakkar’s mouth skimmed hers and he inhaled slightly. “Ah, the sweet smell of a human’s life force...”
“Do it, Brakkar! Take me in her stead,” Dariun demanded.
“Dariun, no,” she gasped weakly.
He met her frightened gaze and held it.
She wondered if he could hear her heart pounding against her chest. Wondered how many beats remained before her life ended.
“Trust me, Elena.”
There was no fear in his voice. Only calm.
“I think she’s past trusting you, Lethos,” Brakkar said with a hollow chuckle. “Like your brother, you’ve failed your human.” His hand slid up to her jaw, grasping it firmly. “Now for that life force I’ve been seeking.”
“I trust you, Dariun.” Her words were barely audible.
“Too late,” Brakkar snarled as his mouth moved over hers to take her life force.
She trusted him and he would not fail her. Dariun became a black wisp, oozing up between the distracted rogue guard and Elena, blending into her body as he had been able to do that morning. Then, he struck, sending Brakkar reeling backwards.
“No!” the rogue guard howled in fury as he charged back to his prey.
“She is mine,” Dariun said, blocking his attempt.
“Dariun,” Elena whimpered hoarsely.
“Stay strong, Elena. Do not flee.”
This time she did as he asked, not giving Brakkar the opportunity to imprison her again.
“Give up, Brakkar,” Dariun growled. “I have her trust. You cannot beat me.”
“Aut vincere aut mori,” the rogue guard hissed his kind’s motto. To conquer or die.
“Then prepare to die.”
The next attempt Brakkar made for Elena, Dariun let go of Elena and wrapped himself around the hissing rogue guard. The two of them went to the ground rolling across the uneven sand.
“I will take you prisoner first, Lethos,” Brakkar warned as they struggled, each seeking to dominate the other in the battle. “Then I shall take my time enjoying your female before I steal hers.”
Dariun tightened his grip. The bastard would not have Elena. Ever.
Brakkar sank his teeth into the corded muscle that ran along Dariun’s neck, the pain so intense Dariun lost his hold on the raging shadow.
Brakkar went after Elena again, but Dariun flew into him and sent him reeling.
Elena stood motionless, her eyes wide, her heart pounding. Dariun could hear it as if it were his own. Trust me.
The rogue shadow rose up, tossing a handful of sand into Dariun’s face.
Dariun cursed as he clawed at his stinging eyes.
“Dariun, behind you!” Elena screamed.
He felt the weight of the rogue shadow slam against him as Brakkar took him down, pinning his face in the sand. “Your human must be quite pleasing in bed to have you fight so hard for her. I look forward to tasting every succulent inch of her body as soon as I have vanquished you.”
Elena gasped.
Dariun turned his head, spitting out the granules of sand trapped in his mouth. Fury surged through his body. That anger fed his strength.
“Your life force thieving ends today!” Dariun bucked the clinging shadow off with remarkable ease and moved to cover him, pinning Brakkar down.
“Feel my vengeance,” Dariun warned as he covered the rogue shadow’s mouth with his own, sucking the power from him as his grip tightened around Brakkar’s neck.
Brakkar clawed wildly at his captor, his struggles lessening with every passing second. Finally, the black form faded into a wisp of smoke and then was gone.
Dariun sank back onto the sand with a weary groan.
Elena ran over to him, falling to her knees in the sand. “Dariun, are you alright?”
“I will be.”
“Are you hurt?” she asked with tears in her eyes.
“Just drained.”
She looked around, fearful Brakkar would return.
“He’s gone, Elena” Dariun assured her, his voice weak. “For good.”
She wrapped her arms around him and laid her face on his chest, not caring what the people on the beach thought of her strange behavior. Dariun had saved her. Now he needed her to be there for him.
“Thank you,” she sobbed in relief.
“I did what I was sent to do,” he nodded. “My duty here is done.” Now he would be free to go in search of his brother and Treynor. But the thought of leaving Elena forever pained him more than he ever imagined.
“And now you must go,” she said, reading his mind.
He heard the sadness in her voice. Felt it within himself. He would leave shortly and send back his replacement.
He nodded. “Soon.” Too damn soon.
CHAPTER SIX
Dariun’s leaving was inevitable. She knew it from the beginning. That didn’t make it any easier Elena thought as tears flooded her eyes.
“Don’t cry,” Dariun said, his voice tender, soothing.
“I don’t want you to leave.”
He pushed upright in the sand. “You knew this time would come.”
What she hadn’t known was that she would fall for her protector. Her shadow guard. An immortal being that she could never have.
He wiped a tear from her cheek and then stood, helping her to her feet. “We should get you inside.”
She nodded, her legs trembling wildly beneath her.
He helped her up the stairs and into the beach house.
�
��When are you leaving?” she asked.
“At dusk. I will go see to the selection of your replacement shadow and then bring him back to keep watch over you.”
She looked up at him longingly. “Will I see you when the next Blue Moon comes?”
“A shadow guard will be sent.”
“But not you,” she answered for him.
Her Shadow Warrior Page 5
