Silas gripped his shoulder. “She’s here. It’s not your imagination.”
Davio’s gaze traveled over me. “Your skin is flushed, but apart from that you look fine.”
“I’m a Wincrest. We try not to show our pain.”
They were fighting words as the pressure of the merge I withheld magnified and pressed out within my skull. Then he stepped forward, breaching the five feet mark, and it all went to custard.
I grabbed my head. “No. Don’t.” I had to ensure my safety and my father’s first. There would be no merge.
I stumbled backwards, only to hit his chest as he flashed in behind me.
“Your heart is racing out of control because you do not merge. Do it. Now.” His lips flattened in a tight line.
I wheezed. “Only if you revoke what you’ve done.”
“I can’t. My people’s safety comes first.”
Then I had to stick to my plan.
Shaking my head, I wobbled. “Give me some breathing space. It hurts too much with you this close.”
He clasped my face in his hands, looking deep into my eyes. “Merge and the pain will be gone.”
I wiped at my nose–it was dribbling again. “No.”
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 stepped back, his boots thumping across the hard floor.
“Faith.” Belle flew into the room. 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, bracing a hand to 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.”
She turned her gaze toward me, holding out her hand. “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 turned to him. “Please. You cannot 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 cannot 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.” I wiped my sleeve under my nose.
He grimaced. “Your nose is bleeding.”
And worse, for it dripped freely to the floor. There was much more blood than I expected. “I’ve been working out with my father, too hard–I can’t control the pain anymore.” I pinched my nose, but it continued to flow.
“Then merge.” His knuckles turned white as he fisted his hands.
“Huh, now you want me to merge? Why is that? You don’t think this skill can kill, and I tell you what, I’m not allowing you to turn around and lock me up the moment I do. No.” My vision wavered, and I blinked repeatedly to bring it back into focus. “Being near you and withholding is accelerating my death. I can feel it.”
“Enough. You are not 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 cannot 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 will do what I must.”
I met Zac head on, using Alexo’s fast move to spin and dodge, dealing with him and catching Viv as I turned. Then Silas thrust his blade right at me, and I met his advance, 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, bending over, grabbing for air. “Cease.”
I shuddered as liquid filled my lungs. I felt the overflowing and I slammed a hand to my chest and heaved, working to spit it out. Blood gushed to 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 didn’t listen. I shoved against Silas, sweeping my leg low to kick him.
Then everything blurred and I heard my own heart stutter. I fell to my knees.
Silas caught me, gripping me around the waist from behind. He bent over me, his hands fisting into my stomach. “Your lungs are full again,” he snapped in my ear. “When I pump, cough it out. All of it.”
He shoved his fist in so hard, a racking spasm took me and I expelled a mouthful of blood.
“Now merge with Davio before you die,” he growled.
I lifted my chin, finding Davio. He stood, his face ghostly white. “There’s so much blood.” He stared at the floor.
“And there will be death before capture–I promise you.”
He dropped to one knee, not breaching the mark which would end my life in an instant. I knew it, and by the look in his eyes, now he did.
“I believe you. 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 will not imprison me?” I needed his promise. “My father will not fall for any future ploy. You know I do not lie.” I gulped in air.
He shot me a look, holding out his 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 felt him.
He was holding me.
Strong arms.
So warm.
“You truly are the most difficult mate ever.”
I heard his hoarse words, but they seemed so far away.
“I swear you will never do this to me again. Do you hear me?”
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?
I felt a rocking motion, lips pressing to my brow. “It’s been hours.”
“Yes, but she no longer bleeds, and I need to clean her up. Faith will not want to wake this way. You can still feel her mind-merge?”
“Yes.”
The voices drifted away.
And the dark welcomed me.
I heard the sound of water. I felt the brush of cloth to my face, my arms and my chest. Warm and soothing as it flowed over my body.
But I stayed in the dark.
“I’ll carry her.”
A deep voice floating over my head. Davio.
“Wake up, love. If you do not 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 yawned, blinking my eyes open. When I did, I saw brown eyes with flecks of gold. Davio’s eyes. Then I remembered. The blood. The pain. The battle for my own life. “You almost left it too late,” I rasped, touching a hand to my throat.
He lifted me higher in his lap. “It’ll never happen again.” A tear from each eye slid free. “I love you. I will never lose you.”
I lifted my hand, wiping his tears away. “And your mind is open,” I whispered. “Are you feeling all right?”
He took my hand and pressed it to his cheek. “I had hoped to shock you awake, but it didn’t work.” He blocked, and I smiled. For I could always trust in the knowledge that he would. Reaching to the side table, he picked up a glas
s and held it out to me. “Your throat sounds dry. Drink.”
I sipped, raising a brow when I noticed I now wore blue jeans and a thick white sweater. “I seem to remember water.” I edged up a little on his lap, glancing about the rec room. We were alone.
“Belle and Silvie gave you a bath.”
He took the glass from my shaky fingers. “You’re still healing, so lie still.”
I heard footsteps and glanced at the far door.
Silvie breezed in, shaking her head at me. “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.
I set my gaze on Davio, and saw the grim line to his lips.
“Hey, it’s okay. You have a thick head but you got there.”
“You are mine to care for. I will never 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?”
There was a noise at the door and Silas strode in, halting 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 turned to Davio. “Have her swear her allegiance, 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 to 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. “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.”
About Joanne Wadsworth
http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=authors&authors_id=232
In February 2009, I first set out Protector’s cast of characters and developed the world of Magio. I wrote four Magio-Earth books that year and by the end, had a spicy mix of heroes and heroines and a ton of edgy villains with their own issues. However, those manuscripts sat in my office because I knew they weren’t ready. My writing skills still had to grow.
In the following year, I kept writing and never stopped, entering two writing contests until I was at the point where Protector’s manuscript languishing on my shelf called my name. Ready to get to work on it, I rewrote Protector in 2011, editing and editing until I was set to submit.
And it happened. Lyrical Press offered me a contract, and my hubby couldn’t have peeled me off the ceiling if he’d tried. I was ecstatic. That first “yes” a writer gets is the most incredible moment and it’s one I’ll never forget.
So, thank you, for joining me on my journey. There is a lot more to come with Protector being the first book in the Magio-Earth series. I have a massive cast and they’re all excited for me to tell their stories, so look out for book two titled “Warrior.” It’s the adventure of Silas and Hope, one which I’m working hard to get to readers right now.
Joanne’s Website:
www.JoanneWadsworth.com
Reader email:
[email protected]
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Table of Contents
Cover
Keep Up With Lyrical
Cover Copy
Teaser
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
About Joanne Wadsworth
Promotion
Protector Page 25
