by Brenda Trim
Jace slammed into Angelica, taking her to the floor while her toadies surged toward the warriors. Gerrick let go of Shae’s hand and whispered duck which she did without hesitation. He swung his staff around, putting all his strength into the blow. The wood slammed into one of her sycophant’s gut. Unfortunately, it didn’t have the impact he’d hoped. Rather than falling to the ground in two pieces, he flew back a few feet, but rebounded quickly.
Shae followed his hit by chasing the male, Gerrick two steps behind her. He didn’t bother with another spell because it would take too much time and concentration that he couldn’t afford right now. That was the reason they typically fought with weapons rather than magic during combat.
Putting on a burst of speed, Gerrick overran Shae and reached the male first. The one thing he appreciated about supernaturals was that violence was familiar in their realm and the guests hadn’t panicked. After a brief uproar, the crowd settled and made way to the edges of the room to stay out of the way as much as possible.
The lighted spheres the Rowan triplets had added to the ceiling began to burst as wild spells left the lips of Angelica’s goons. The dark-tinged lights of their enchantments told him they’d siphoned Angelica’s tainted power. Dumb-fucks, Gerrick thought. Not only was someone was going to get killed by their wild spells, but they were playing with forces they didn’t understand. Dark magic corroded you from the inside out and landed your soul in hell. Gerrick was left with no choice except to kill them.
These enemies were far tougher to fight than the skirm and lesser demons because of their Dark magic. He dodged spells every other second as he pummeled the male he fought which left him continuously off balance. Everything suddenly stilled as the ballroom was filled with blinding light and mist. When the light dissipated, a large slate dragon with blue eyes stood in their midst. Nate roared and his tail swished, taking down several guests in the process. It was beyond impossible to be careful when you were the size of an airplane stuffed into a room, albeit a ballroom.
Zander was yelling something to Nate and suddenly the dragon curled his body around Elsie and the other females. A weight lifted off Gerrick’s shoulders at seeing the mates protected and he had to admit it was nice to have a dragon on their side. “Go, get behind Nate,” Gerrick ordered Shae.
She chuckled and smiled at him, “Not a chance. Looks like you need my help,” she replied, kicking the male in the side of the head. Gerrick shook his head as he watched the male fall to the ground. Gerrick stabbed his staff through the male’s neck and sent a burst of power through the wood causing the head to explode. Brain matter splattered his pants and the hem of Shae’s dress.
“Dammit, I liked that dress on you. I’ll have to buy you another,” he remarked, running his finger down the slope of her cleavage. That quick, even in the midst of chaos and bloodshed, he wanted her to the point of madness. He didn’t know how much longer he’d be able to hold himself back.
“Even you can’t beat a dragon, Angelica,” Jace taunted, bringing Gerrick back to the battle.
Angelica fluttered her fingers by her side and smiled wryly, “Oh, but little do you know, I’ve already won.” With that she disappeared in a puff of black smoke, leaving her remaining goons behind. The warriors made quick work of dispatching them and Nate chomped those who tried to make a run for it.
Gerrick and Shae joined the group in the middle of the room and stood next to Nate as he stood guard. Mack reached up and patted his snout. “It’s okay, they’re gone. You can shift back now.”
A quick snort and another flash of light and mist and a naked Nate stood among their group. The mated males growled at the sight, and Gerrick was startled to realize that his growl was the loudest. Mack laughed, “You’d better get dressed Nate, the males are staking claims. By the way, is your magic different here because I noticed your dragon eyes weren’t jewels just now like they were on Khoth.”
Nate accepted the pants from a servant and slid them on. “I feel different here. I can’t tell if I have less power, or not, but it’s definitely different.”
“What’s this?” Shae asked picking up an obelisk from the ground where Angelica had been standing.
“Don’t touch that?” Gerrick warned, detecting the power emanating from it. “It has power of some kind.”
“I don’t know about that, but it has a timer that’s counting down,” she replied.
“Can you contain it?” Zander asked Gerrick.
“I’m not sure,” Gerrick responded.
“Well, you better do something fast because we don’t have much time,” Shae added, making his blood turn to ice.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Gerrick was about to take the object from Shae’s hand when his fellow warriors surrounded them. The room was quiet while they all took in the scene Angelica left behind until Mack broke the silence, “Let me see that. And, someone get the guests out of the house.” Seeing that as permission, the guests didn’t wait for an escort before they headed for the exit without looking back.
“No’ happening, Sunshine,” Kyran told her.
“Look here, bloodsucker, I feel the power coming off the thing. Give it to me,” she countered.
“I may allow you to patrol and fight, but I willna allow you to place yourself in unknown danger,” Kyran replied, his tone resolute.
Mack rolled her eyes and sighed, “Sometimes you men are blinded by your arrogance and need to protect us women. You are forgetting my ability to nullify magic. I haven’t been able to sense any magic since we got home so I thought it was limited to Khoth, but I feel this, so let me try.” She reached up and cradled Kyran’s face in her hands.
“Argue about this latter,” Shae interrupted. “I’m afraid I started the countdown when I picked it up and I can’t be responsible for it going off.” Gerrick’s instinct had him snarling like Kyran and just as unhappy about the danger.
Gerrick took the object from Shae, noting its warmth, and held it out towards Mack who approached him with Kyran glued to her back.
“I doona like this,” the Vampire Prince complained, but didn’t stop his mate from touching the smooth, black stone. Gerrick admired the male’s restraint. Hell, he didn’t think he would be able to stand by so calmly. Symbols floated to the surface when Mack touched it and she ran her fingers over it. She paused and looked over her shoulder at Kyran.
“I have no idea what will happen, I don’t understand the first thing about my ability. There is an oily feeling when I touch it so I know the intent behind this thing is evil, but I know I can diffuse it. And, before you freak out on me, allow me to follow my gut,” she expressed and waited for Kyran to nod his head before she turned back and pressed one symbol after another.
Gerrick hadn’t realized until then the amount of mutual respect the couple had for one another. They weren’t as demonstrative with their love as the other couples in the house. In fact, he’d never heard either one of them tell the other that they loved each other, but it was clear their love ran very deep.
Mack paused and closed her eyes as she felt around the obelisk, pressing symbols here and there. Several minutes later the numbers stopped and the stone dimmed.
Gerrick looked up in astonishment. “Holy shit, you did it.”
“Don’t look so surprised, Gerrick. I do have my talents,” Mack teased, kissing Kyran on the cheek and sliding her hand up his chest. Gerrick could see the feral light leave Kyran’s eyes as his mate soothed him with her touch.
Gerrick looked around the ballroom. “This didn’t turn out like we planned. Goddess, we didn’t even get to the candlelight circle.”
“Is that a problem with your Goddess?” Nate asked.
“Nay, the ceremony is more an acknowledgement than anything,” Zander explained.
“Good. I’m too tired to run for my life should she strike you down. This place is a disaster,” Nate complained. Gerrick laughed at that as he once again glanced at the destruction around them.
“Most of this da
mage was caused by you when you shifted, so get to it,” Gerrick said, punching the dragon on the arm.
A piercing scream brought everyone’s head around. Sheila, another staff member, was crouching beside a body on the opposite side of the room. Zander and Elsie were running in that direction before Gerrick blinked.
“She’s dead,” Sheila cried, kicking Gerrick into gear and he grabbed Shae’s hand and headed across the wood floor. “They killed her,” Sheila continued, “They killed my sister.” Gerrick saw something shatter in the female’s eyes as she looked at Zander. The utter devastation on her face caused a responding echo in Gerrick’s chest.
“Bluidy hell. How the fuck did this happen in my house?” Zander cursed as Elsie took Sheila in her arms, offering comfort. Shae trembled by Gerrick’s side and he realized seeing the dead body must remind her of the horrors she’d gone through. He wanted to wrap her up in his arms and shield her from the pain. Once again his desire to protect this female was all-consuming and he didn’t understand a bit of it. He shouldn’t feel this way about anyone, yet he couldn’t deny the impulses, making him question if she was his Fated Mate, even though he knew that was impossible.
“Gerrick and I felt the moment Angelica broke through our shields, but we couldn’t act fast enough to stop her,” Jace said. Gerrick knew this issue needed to be solved immediately, but he couldn’t ignore the trauma emanating off Shae. Before he could take care of her though, he needed to ensure her safety within the compound.
“Let’s recast the protections before anything else gets through. This time add an extra impervious layer designed against Angelica’s signature. She made a mistake coming into the compound because now we have her magical signature,” Gerrick told Jace. A satisfied gleam entered the healer’s eyes as he nodded. Gerrick smiled back and together they chanted, quickly replacing the barriers. The room filled with colored lights that swirled and morphed as they rose to the ceiling and outside their home. As soon as he felt the spell snap into place, Gerrick turned to Shae.
“Come on,” he whispered in her ear, diverting her attention from the sight of Sheila crying over Shannon.
“I’m taking her outside. We’ll be back,” Gerrick told Zander and headed for the door the second Zander nodded his acknowledgment.
Shae walked next to him and edged closer the further they went from the house. When they came closer to the boat house, she slid shaky fingers into his hand. He twined them together without question and led her into the deserted boat house. The structure wasn’t heated, but offered a break from the cold night of winter in Seattle.
“Please tell me we’re not going swimming,” Shae said, breaking the silence between them.
He punched in the code for the door and smiled, bringing her hand to his mouth for a kiss. “No. We have an indoor heated pool for that. I had something else in mind.”
She quirked one eyebrow, but didn’t object. Instead, curiosity and interest became silent shadows in her expression. He held back a groan at the obvious direction of her thinking. He was more than happy to ignore his better judgment and oblige. Beeping cut that train of thought off before it got out of hand and he hurried to disarm the alarm.
“Are we going on the boat?” she asked.
“Yeah. I thought you’d like to get away for a short while.” In truth, he thought she would enjoy an exhilarating ride. To him there was nothing like going balls to the wall, either in a fast car, on a motorcycle, or in a boat. He particularly enjoyed his Harley, but didn’t want to take the chance of the demons finding them on the streets.
“That sounds fabulous to me,” she murmured as he lowered the boat. He made quick work of getting the craft into the water, hopped in and helped her to a seat before he took the wheel. She laughed as they headed out of their cove and into Lake Washington.
“Faster,” she shouted against the wind, a huge smile breaking across her face. Her red hair was flying around her eyes and her cheeks were pink from the cold wind and she was absolutely breathtaking.
He smiled as she tied her hair in a knot. He always wondered how females managed to get their hair to stay without any kind of a fastener. Not that she wasn’t beautiful with it restrained, but he missed the wildness from a moment ago. She was definitely a spirit he didn’t want to tame. He knew she saw herself as different now, but he imagined, in part, that she had always been what he was now seeing. Her spine of steel may have been tempered in the fires of hell, but that didn’t change who she was inside. That only made her more attractive. Watching her, he admitted that he wanted to know everything about this female.
The lake was dark and deserted this late at night and they didn’t encounter another boat. The cool spray of the water was refreshing and he inhaled deeply, taking in the scents around him. Shae’s jasmine overwhelmed the damp of the lake, making his erection pound in the confines of his pants. It was a nice diversion from the chaos of the evening and the violence that typically consumed his nights. He had never resented his duty, but he hadn’t realized what he was missing, either. Many supernaturals had developed committed and lasting relationships with others, despite the fact, they weren’t Fated Mates, but he had never allowed himself to contemplate that option. Not until Shae.
He’d been fighting his instincts towards her for days and couldn’t get their kiss out of his mind. He wanted to do it again. Remembering her previous reaction, he’d have to be careful with how he approached her. Shae’s piercing scream had him pulling into a cove and he cursed himself all kinds a fool for being so distracted.
*****
Shae’s head was going to split. The pain was beyond horrible and she was convinced that her brain was being torn apart by the demon. She’d be lucky if she had enough brain cells left to recall her own name. “No,” she protested, refusing to give an inch. She threw up every kind of barrier she could think of in hopes of keeping Azazel out. She slumped to the floor of the boat and curled into a ball, holding her hands protectively around her head.
“Shae. What is it? Where’s the danger?” Gerrick asked, worry obvious in his tense voice. That was who he was, she thought. A warrior to his core, always ready to slay the demons. The hand he placed on her shoulder provided a bit of relief from the pressure.
She reached up to him. “Make them go away,please. Kiss me now,” she pleaded, wanting him to slay her demons.
Without hesitation, he pulled her up and into his arms. Her stomach twisted in a vicious wave of need. She luxuriated in his strength and lifted her chin, more than ready to force the demon out. “Tell me what’s wrong first,” he demanded.
“I don’t want to talk right now. I want to forget,” she pleaded, running her hands up the planes of his hard chest. He’d removed his suit jacket at some point and was in shirt sleeves. She ripped the fabric open and buttons flew in every direction. She didn’t stop there and extended her claws, shredding his undershirt.
He growled and gripped her head pulling her so close they were scant millimeters apart. Her hair came loose from its knot and the tape gave up the task of holding the dress over her breasts. The globes were free to rub against the silk of his heated skin with every indrawn breath. The sensation was tantalizing and revved her need even higher.
“Fuck, Shae. I’m trying to be good here and you aren’t making that easy,” Gerrick said through gritted teeth, his hand tightening in her hair.
She lifted one leg, wrapping it around his hip, bringing her core in contact with hardness his pants didn’t have a hope of hiding. “I don’t want you good, Gerrick. I just want you. Now,” she demanded.
A white-hot whip of electricity shot between them, making her forget the reason she’d asked for the kiss in the first place. Without warning, he took her mouth in a claiming and a concession, and at the moment, she didn’t have one complaint.
Snaking her hands into his hair, she kissed him back with every ounce of passion she was reclaiming. She was a butterfly emerging from a cocoon of pain to discover a world of pleasure she’d
never known existed. She slid her tongue against his, deliberately provoking him. She wanted more. She wanted him raw and unleashed.
He hesitated, slowing the kiss and she worried she was losing this moment. Through her connection to him, she felt him going cold and wondered if he was thinking of Evanna at that moment. The thought pissed her off enough to break the kiss and bite his neck hard enough to draw blood. He should be thinking of her and no one else. A low, masculine sound of arousal rumbled in his throat and he wrenched her head back. She had been careful not to draw his blood into her mouth, but she knew it coated her lips.
“Are you sure you want this because once I start I’m not stopping until you scream my fucking name.” She swallowed hard and tipped her lips in a half-smile.
“You sure you’re ready for me, warrior? Just sayin’,” she countered then squealed when he gripped her ass and hitched her up his body. Instinctively, she wrapped her legs around his waist.
She tried to insinuate a hand between them to cup his erection, but he refused to allow her any freedom of movement. This was the ruthless warrior she’d heard legends about. She loved him like this. His dominance had wet heat dampening her core. She’d never tangled with a male this dangerous and she’d never wanted anyone more.
It was exhilarating. Lethal as he was, he was hers and she knew him, down to his soul. He’d never hurt her. Anyone else he’d shred without a second thought, but never her.
She hissed in a breath, and suddenly, he was taking that breath from her in a primal kiss while he ripped her dress from her body, tossing it over the side of the boat. She sank her claws into his back, anchoring herself.
“I’ve been waiting centuries for you, Red,” he murmured and closed long, strong fingers over her breast in blatant possession. He owned her in a way no one ever had. His talented fingers pinched and pulled at her nipples, effectively pulling her completely out of the abyss that had threatened to tear her apart from the inside.
