Vines?
More vines lashed out, catching Tyler’s other arm as he fought to free himself. He shouted, his voice growing desperate.
A vine crept over Sophie’s leg. She scrambled backward, eyes wide, as a huge, dark figure appeared behind Tyler.
“Cruce,” she whispered, her heart pounding rapidly.
“Sophie.” Cruce’s voice was everything she’d remembered and more; it swept over her in a loving caress, soothed her frayed nerves, blanketed her in security. He moved around Tyler, and as he entered the moonlight, she realized he wasn’t a shadow at all. It was him, in the flesh, real, solid, and majestic.
Cruce leaned down, offering her a hand.
“What the fuck is this?” Tyler demanded. “What the fuck is that thing? I killed it!”
Sophie ignored Cruce’s hand and leapt to her feet, throwing her arms around him. She pressed her face to his chest, willing his warmth into her. Fresh tears stung her eyes. “I thought I lost you.”
Cruce enfolded her in his embrace, one of his big hands smoothing her tousled hair. “I cannot be so easily taken from you, Josephine Davis. Sophie.”
“Get this shit off me!” Tyler shouted, voice high with fear.
Cruce turned toward Tyler, and Sophie turned her head to look at the man she’d once called her husband.
Tyler’s eyes were wild with fear, the cords on his neck stood out, and perspiration had beaded on his skin despite the chill in the air. Thick vines were wrapped around each of his arms, keeping them spread to either side.
“You are diseased, mortal,” Cruce said.
Wood creaked all around, and before Sophie’s eyes, vines sprouted and crept along the nearby trunks. The tendrils binding Tyler pulled taut, lifting him off the ground. He cried out in pain. The branches overhead slowly dipped toward him, their leafless tips sinking into the skin of his arms, producing tiny, gleaming droplets of blood.
“Disease must be purged, to ensure the health of the forest,” Cruce continued. “To ensure the safety of its lady.” He dipped his head, brushing his lips over Sophie’s hair. “Close your eyes, Josephine.”
Sophie stared at Tyler. His angry, crazed, terrified eyes locked on her, pleading, accusing, hating.
For once, he was the victim. He was the one without power. He’d spent years manipulating her, controlling her, dominating her, using his size and strength against her. And finally, Tyler had encountered something he could not overcome. Something he could not control.
He’d come here to hurt her again, and he’d tried to take Cruce from her — had killed her mate before her very eyes. And, even if he would’ve let her survive the night, she had no doubt Tyler would have eventually murdered her.
What kind of person was Sophie if she allowed his torture to continue? If she allowed him to be killed?
And if she told Cruce to let him go? Tyler would hang over her forever, a shadow to haunt her subconscious, a specter from her past that would never allow her to feel wholly safe. Even Cruce couldn’t fully cancel out that feeling, that fear…not after this. Were Tyler to overcome his obsession with Sophie, to let her go, what would he do to the next woman he targeted? Because there would be another. People like him didn’t change, didn’t stop. She couldn’t live knowing that she’d allowed him to hurt someone else the same way he’d hurt her.
No matter which choice was the right one, Sophie knew what she wanted. She knew what had to be done.
Sophie closed her eyes and buried her face against Cruce’s chest.
Cruce caressed her hair and pressed another soft kiss to her head.
“You fucking bitch! You goddamn whore!” Tyler screamed. “Don’t you turn away from me!”
Loud creaking sounds came from all around — from the vines, from the trees, even from the ground beneath her feet — and Sophie felt immense, indescribable power flowing through the air. Cruce’s body warmed further, and she sank against it. Tyler’s hateful words became frantic, frightened pleading before descending into agonized screams.
She kept her eyes closed through the wet tearing sounds. Kept her eyes closed as bones popped and snapped, and something splattered on the forest floor. Kept them closed as Tyler released his final, gurgling breath.
Cruce turned away from Tyler, leading Sophie with him, and took her face in his hands. She finally opened her eyes to look up at him.
“It is done, Josephine,” he said softly.
Sophie said nothing as she wrapped her arms around Cruce’s neck and held him tight. Her body trembled, both from what she’d heard and from the cold. But it was done. It was over. Tyler would never hurt her again.
She was truly free.
Cruce’s forest thrummed with life all around, and he felt it as clearly as he felt his own body. His connection with his domain hadn’t been this solid since before he was cursed. It filled him with power he’d not tasted in many decades, and magic coursed through his veins like liquid fire. But the thrill of his restored power — and the mystery of why it had returned — was secondary to his relief.
He gathered Sophie in his arms and lifted her off her feet, carrying her toward the cabin. Though he felt the network of roots running underfoot, though he once again possessed the ability to travel through them, he had no desire to do so. All Cruce wanted was to hold her, to feel her against him.
The first night he’d truly shared with Sophie had nearly become the night he’d lost her. All his power could not change that; it was a what-if that would linger in his mind for ages to come, a reminder that his arrogance counted for nothing in this world or any other. Assuming he could protect her was not the same as keeping her safe. The latter required dedication, humility, and effort, and he would never take her wellbeing for granted again. He would never allow himself to grow complacent.
She clung to him so tightly as he walked that it seemed she feared he’d vanish if she let go.
Would he?
His memory remained intact when it came to those final moments — he’d died. He’d felt his own life force fade to nothingness. A bullet had pierced his mortal heart, and he had not survived.
He’d awoken in a daze on the forest floor shortly after. The only thing that had cut through his disorientation was Sophie’s absence. His initial panic had nearly blinded him to the fact that his senses were wide open; he could feel Tyler and Sophie in his forest, had known exactly where they were. He’d feared he would be too late, and his only goal upon approaching them had been to pry Tyler’s focus away from her.
The cabin’s windows were dark when Cruce emerged from the trees and entered the lot in front it. Silver moonlight illuminated the area, bathing everything in a glow rich with magic and power. This was the night when the veil between worlds was at its thinnest. When anything seemed possible.
He gently lowered her onto her feet, though he did not relinquish his hold.
She tilted her head back and met his gaze, her dark eyes shining. He sensed her life force, strong and pure, but he did not hunger for it. Though the hollowness within him was gone, his need for her had only grown.
Cruce cupped her face, stroking his thumbs over her cheeks. He gritted his teeth when she winced; the flesh on one side of her face was tight and beginning to swell. Were it possible, Cruce would have ripped Tyler apart all over again for the pain he’d inflicted on Sophie.
Slowly, he ran his hands down her neck and over her shoulders to curl his fingers around her slender arms. Her bare skin was marred by scratches, bruises, and dirt, and the smell of her blood mingled with her lavender and vanilla aroma. But she was still beautiful — the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
“I have something to give you, Sophie,” he said, his voice low and thick. Before he’d met her, he would never have so much as considered what he was about to do. “Something very precious to me…but not as precious as you are.”
She settled her palms on his chest. Her fingers were cold, but their touch sent white-hot fire throughout his being. Her lips cur
led in a small smile. “You’ve already given me more than I could have wanted. You’re alive.”
“The curse has been broken,” he said; he didn’t understand how, or why, but its weight had been lifted from him fully. He was Lord of the Forest again.
Sophie inhaled sharply, eyes widening. “Does that mean you won’t…won’t disappear? That you won’t return to your shadow form?”
“I believe so. We will await the sunrise together to find out. But before then…” He dipped his head and withdrew from her slightly, moving one of his hands to his chest.
Cruce focused on his essence, which he’d not felt this clearly in so long. He called upon it, willing it out of his body a little at a time, and gathered it on his palm in a golden, glittering orb. The orb bathed Sophie’s awed face with its warm, gentle glow. Once it had fully coalesced, he divided it evenly; the orb split in two, and one of the pieces sank back into his skin, suffusing him with his own life force. He presented the remaining half to Sophie.
“I want you to take this, and become Lady of the Forest,” he said, “that we may belong to one another so long as our domain stands.”
Sophie pulled her eyes away from the orb to look up at him. “To be with you? Forever?”
“You will be tied to the forest, as am I. It is not eternity, but it is likely to be a long, long while. If I could promise eternity to you…I would.”
“So long as I’m with you, I’ll take whatever time I can get.”
He hesitated, curling his fingers over the orb. “You must know, Sophie, that you will no longer be human after you accept this. This is my essence, my life force. It will make you into something like me.”
She wrapped her fingers around his wrist and drew herself closer. “I don’t care. I want this. I want you. I love you, Cruce.”
A torrent of emotions overwhelmed him, sweeping through his body to constrict his chest and throat. She had just given a name to the complex feelings swirling inside him — love. He’d never felt it before because he’d never known her before. He’d brushed these feelings off as a craving, a need to possess her, a surge of lust in anticipation of his physical form on this night, but it had ever been so much more.
“And I love you, my Sophie.”
At her gentle guidance, he extended his arm and pressed his palm to her chest, easing the orb of essence into her heart. She tilted her head back as the glow spread across her skin, its gold overpowering the silver light of the moon. She closed her eyes and parted her lips to release a soft exhalation. The magic whirled around her, whirled through her, and solidified her place as the other half of his heart. And he could feel her; she thrummed in his awareness like she was an extension of him, part of the same whole and yet still herself, still Sophie.
She finally eased and opened her eyes. They were a bright, honeyed amber now, glowing faintly in the night, but they were undoubtedly hers — they carried all her experiences, all her uniqueness. Her skin emitted a soft light of its own, and her auburn tresses were like shimmering fire.
Cruce dropped to his knees before her, gazing up into her eyes. “My lady.”
Sophie reached out and ran her fingers — now tipped with claws — through his hair. Her radiant smile outshone the sun on its brightest day. “My lord.”
He settled his hands on her hips and tugged her closer. Her scent filled his senses. “Allow me to worship you until the sun rises, and forever after.”
“Yes,” she breathed, closing her eyes and tilting her head back as Cruce pressed his mouth to her sex. Though it was only his second true taste of her, he knew he would always want for more — eternity could not satisfy his craving for the Lady of the Forest, his Sophie.
Also by Tiffany Roberts
THE KRAKEN
Treasure of the Abyss
Jewel of the Sea
Hunter of the Tide
Heart of the Deep
ISLE OF THE FORGOTTEN
Make Me Burn
Make Me Hunger
Make Me Whole
Make Me Yours
OTHER TITLES
Claimed by an Alien Warrior
Dustwalker
His Darkest Craving
Ice Bound: Short Story
VALOS OF SONHADRA COLLABORATION
Tiffany Roberts - Undying
Tiffany Roberts - Unleashed
About the Author
Tiffany Roberts is the pseudonym for Tiffany and Robert Freund, a husband and wife writing duo. Tiffany was born and bred in Idaho, and Robert was a native of New York City before moving across the country to be with her. The two have always shared a passion for reading and writing, and it was their dream to combine their mighty powers to create the sorts of books they want to read. They write character driven sci-fi and fantasy romance, creating happily-ever-afters one monster or alien at a time.
Connect with us:
Website:
https://authortiffanyroberts.wordpress.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorTiffanyRoberts
BookBub:
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/tiffany-roberts
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