But as the woman had passed through on her way down to the cavern, Alesia had seen her large scared eyes, noted her scratched body and the bruise on her face.
But what could Alesia do? Like most dryads, she was slim and on the small side. Her magic was in keeping the land fertile and coaxing things to grow. She kept nature in balance, assuring the forest and its creatures lived in harmony.
Those big, coarse fada would squash her like a fly if she interfered in their fun.
Two more fada males appeared beneath her tree, their breath sawing in and out of their chests. She recognized the younger one. Underneath that wild black hair he was kind of cute, with silver-blue eyes and a nice smile, and he’d had the good manners to offer her a gift of food in return for sharing her island.
But the older one was a big, intimidating man with bulging muscles and a hard face. At first she assumed he was with the others, but the door didn’t open for him even when he begged it to.
She cautiously moved a branch aside to study him, curious about this fada who pleaded. He glanced up and she froze, hardening her skin so that its texture resembled bark and she blended into the trunk.
He shook his head and pressed his fists to his face in despair.
And then the woman screamed.
Alesia sucked in a breath and made up her mind. She launched herself from the oak, landing lightly behind the two men. The older one spun around with a snarl, drawing himself up to his full height and baring sharp canines at her.
She held up her hands. “Peace, fada. I’m not here to fight. You want to get inside, yes?”
He scrutinized her for a tense heartbeat. The younger man said, “This is the dryad. She can help us, Rui.”
The big man relaxed a fraction. “Yes,” he told her. “I’ll give you anything—anything you want. Just please help me get to Valeria.”
She waved a dismissive hand. “Just promise me that you’re here to help the woman, not hurt her.” Something occurred to her. “She’s yours, isn’t she? This Valeria? Your mate?”
“Yes. Yes, she is. And I swear on everything I hold holy that I just want to rescue her from those bastards.”
Satisfied, she laid a hand on her oak. “My friend, I beg a favor of you—that you allow these two fada entrance.” She thought for a second and then added, “And to please keep the entrance open until this man, Rui, returns with the woman Valeria.”
The oak was mature—not ancient, but full grown—with little patience for the foolish doings of the two-legged ones other than its dryad, bound to it at birth. It muttered grumpily at being disturbed twice—no, three times—in the same day.
Alesia stroked its sturdy gray trunk. “Please?”
The leaves above rattled in irritation, but the door slid open. In an instant, Rui was inside and down the steps.
The younger male paused to touch her cheek. Alesia met his silver-blue eyes and blinked. She had the strange, dizzying sensation of falling up—into a light-filled sky.
“Thank you, Miss—?”
For a moment she forgot her own name. “Alesia,” she blurted.
“Alesia. Well, thanks.” He gave her that easy smile. “My name’s Tiago. Tiago do Rio.” He hurried after the other man.
Alesia put a hand to her cheek and watched as they disappeared into the darkness below. The older male must know he was outnumbered, that he could be rushing to his death, yet he hadn’t hesitated to go to his mate’s rescue. Goddess, how he must love her. Her heart twisted as she wondered what it would be like to have a man care for her like that.
She loved her trees, her lush little island, but sometimes it was lonely. From time to time her needs grew too great and she left to seek out a lover, but she’d never yet found her mate. Apparently she expected him to somehow stumble upon her island in the middle of the river. She shook her head at herself, then lifted to her toes and swung back up into the oak.
Ten feet up, she stopped. Somewhere nearby, the woods stirred. She seated herself cross-legged on the branch, waiting. A few minutes later, another fada ran up. An earth shifter, with shiny black hair and golden-brown skin.
He glanced up at her. “With your permission, Miss?”
Resigned, she waved a hand. “Be my guest.” The tree was going to remain open until the river fada returned with his mate anyway.
The earth shifter darted through the opening.
Alesia settled down to wait. From inside the cavern came the sounds of aggression. She shook her head. The fada were such a violent race.
Then her skin prickled. Someone was watching her.
She slowly turned her head.
* * *
As Rui reached the bottom of the stars, he was dimly aware of other people in the cave, all men: two in a corner, fucking; two others hovering over Valeria. And Tiago had pounded down the steps behind him.
But all he could see was Valeria on her knees before Okeanos, his cock in her mouth.
The S.O.B. had a tight grip on her head and was forcing her to take him deep. The two other men had their hands all over her. She shuddered as if in pain and gave a guttural moan that raised the hair on Rui’s neck.
He didn’t slow as he reached the bottom of the stairs, just leapt for Okeanos, claws out. Let Valeria startle and bite off the cabrão’s dick.
But Okeanos saw him coming in time to shove her away. She gasped and curled into a ball. Rui’s heart clenched, but he couldn’t stop to comfort her. He barreled into Okeanos, digging his claws into his torso and knocking him to the floor.
For a few seconds Rui was on top. He lunged for Okeanos’s jugular vein, canines at the ready, but the other man threw him off and leapt to his feet, his chest scoured with bloody marks.
Rui rolled, ignoring the painful jolt to his newly-healed abdomen, and came back to his feet a moment behind him. They circled each other, sizing one another up.
“You think you can take me?” Okeanos flung up a hand, palm out, five fingers extended in a very Greek insult. “Come on then, you poutanas yie.” Rui knew enough Greek to know that meant son of a whore.
He growled and planted his feet in a fighting stance, preparing to pounce, when suddenly he was enveloped in what felt like a net of cold, black energy.
“What the fu—” He was trussed from chin to toes, arms pinned to his body. He snarled and strained against the net. But the harder he fought, the more it tightened.
Valeria hissed and crawled toward Okeanos. “Fight fair, you—you coward.” She shoved his legs so that he staggered and stumbled forward.
He caught his balance and turned around, his face so dark that Rui redoubled his efforts to free himself.
“Did you call me a coward?”
She cringed but held her ground. “Sim. Only a coward would bind a man so he can’t fight.”
Okeanos slapped her across the face.
She jolted and brought a hand to her cheek, her lips tight with pain. Then her chin jutted out. “Fuck you.”
Rui sucked in his breath. Seeing her being slapped was a hundred times worse than taking a blow himself. “Valeria,” he said. “No. Don’t—”
Okeanos jerked her to her feet. “Fuck me?” he asked as he slapped her again. “Oh yes, glika.”
Her head snapped to one side. This time she had the sense to remain silent, the only sound her jagged breathing.
“Stop it, you bastard. You’re hurting her.” Rui struggled desperately against the invisible net. It loosened and hope surged in him. Then Okeanos flicked his fingers in Rui’s directions and the strands tightened again.
Tiago growled and tried to go to Valeria, but Okeanos snarled, “Take another step and they’re both dead.”
Tiago looked to Rui. He gave a slight shake of his head in reply. Who knew what a man with Okeanos’s Gift could do? If he said he could kill them both, it might be true.
The Greek fada returned his attention to Valeria. “You will fuck me, I promise you. Whenever or wherever I wish.”
Another hard slap, then another, the har
sh sound echoing in the cave and reverberating in Rui until he was nearly blind with fury.
Valeria tried to cover her face, but Okeanos pulled both arms behind her back, gripping her wrists in one hand so she couldn’t defend herself. “You will beg to please me,” he gritted. “This is only a taste of what I can do. The aphrodisiac increases every sensation. If I beat you, the pain alone might kill you.”
He raised his hand again and something in Valeria seemed to break. Her face crumpled and she tucked her head into her shoulder.
“No more,” she begged. “Please, I can’t take any more. Goddess, it hurts.”
One of the blows had cut her lip. The scent of her fresh blood, coupled with his inability to help her, scoured Rui’s soul like a thousand pieces of broken glass.
“Damn you, Okeanos. Have mercy—can’t you see she’s in agony?”
Okeanos looked at Rui and, holding his gaze, raised his hand and gave Valeria another deliberate slap.
Rui snapped. A red haze filled his brain. Maddened, he threw himself from side to side, straining his muscles until his heart was slamming against his ribcage. But the invisible net continued to constrict. Tighter…tighter.
He struggled even harder, but the more he fought, the more it contracted. He fell to his knees, the strands binding his chest so tightly he could barely breathe, but he fought on, sweat pouring down his face, uncaring of anything but the need to help his mate.
Then suddenly, the constriction loosened. Rui’s lungs heaved as he dragged in a breath of much-needed air.
Okeanos snarled. He thrust Valeria from him to concentrate on Rui.
Yes.
Some instinct told Rui the other man had reached his limit. He met Okeanos’s gaze defiantly and rose back to his feet, not letting up for a moment, no longer a rational being but an animal.
And the animal knew this was a fight to the death.
Okeanos’s eyes narrowed. The net tightened again. Rui gritted his teeth and continued to resist, but he was growing lightheaded from lack of oxygen. Despair washed over him. Because if he died, Valeria was doomed. Tiago was no match for five mature fada.
Spots danced in front of his eyes. He swayed on his feet.
“No, Rui.” Valeria stumbled toward him, fell to her knees. She crawled the last few feet, wrapping her arms around his legs. “Acalme-te. You can’t fight it. You have to stop. He’s using dark magic—it feeds on your struggles.”
He heard her words with some distant part of his brain, but the animal sensed that wasn’t the whole truth—and both parts of him were willing to keep fighting until his mate was free, even if it meant his own death.
Behind him, someone else ran lightly down the steps, but he was concentrating too hard to turn to see who it was. Instead, he went deep into himself, drawing on the chill gray center that had made him such a good assassin. He planted his feet on the cavern floor and shot Okeanos a look so cold the other man took a step back.
“Sim,” Rui growled. “You’re the one who’s going to die.” He pushed back—hard.
Okeanos snarled back, but he’d clearly reached his limit. The crushing tightness around Rui’s chest loosened. He drew in a breath, then another one. The lightheadedness eased. He clenched his fists and kept pushing.
Valeria shifted onto her knees, wobbly and yet somehow strong. He felt her touch through the mate bond, a rush of warmth and love and acceptance, the last so sweet it almost dropped him back to his own knees.
“I love you,” she said in a low, clear voice, and for one brief second he let himself savor the joy of hearing the words at last.
And then she was helping him turn the dark magic against Okeanos. With a shock, he realized she was using her Gift for directing water animals. But of course; at the heart of every river or sea fada was a water animal.
Wonder filled him. At Valeria’s strength, at the love he felt pouring into him from her. At the fact that together, the two of them could do what neither could alone. He fed that wonder into the cold determination.
Okeanos’s face was harsh with strain. Sweat beaded on his forehead. His two fellow sea fada started for Rui, but the other two men stepped in front of them.
“Let them fight it out,” one of them said. “This is a mate-duel, right, Rui?”
That was when Rui realized the two men who’d had their hands all over Valeria were Jorge and Benny. His breath hissed between his teeth. The bastards. He’d known Jorge since they were both pups, and he’d helped train the younger Benny as a warrior.
But anger was an indulgence he couldn’t afford. If Jorge was willing to force Okeanos into a fair fight, that was good enough for him.
“Yes,” he replied. “This is a mate-duel.”
“I’ll be his second,” Tiago stated loudly.
Another voice rang out. The new man. “And me.”
He stepped forward, and Rui grunted in surprise; it was Merry’s uncle Jace.
Rui focused back on his opponent. It was hard as hell to speak and maintain the pressure on Okeanos, but he was determined to do this by the book. “I…Rui do Mar…challenge you…to a mate-duel for Valeria da Costa.”
“I accept,” Okeanos replied. “With one condition.”
First, though, he flicked his fingers. The constriction around Rui’s chest disappeared as if it had never been. He put his hands on his thighs and took several deep breaths.
“Thank Deus.” Valeria dropped her head against his thigh, still holding one of his legs. Her own breath was choppy with pain.
Rui gently disentangled her grip and crouched down beside her. He wanted desperately to pull her into her arms, but he recalled what Okeanos had said about the aphrodisiac.
He settled for gently stroking her hair but even that made her wince. He scowled up at Okeanos. “What the hell did you do to her?” he demanded.
“Just teaching her a lesson.” The Greek fada nudged Valeria with his toe. “Hurts like the devil, doesn’t it, glika? Touch me again and it will be worse.”
Rui made a harsh sound low in his throat. At that moment he would’ve sold his soul to rip off the other man’s head. But he was bound by the rules of the mate-duel.
He rose back to his feet. “State your condition.”
Okeanos crossed his arms. “Valeria has to accept the winner. If I fight you, she forfeits the right of refusal. The winner takes her—whether she wills it or not.”
“No.” Rui shook his head. “You can’t ask that—”
“I accept the terms,” Valeria interrupted. She pushed herself to her feet and stood there, wobbling a little.
“No, meu amor.” Rui put an arm around her waist to steady her. She flinched, and he cursed and loosened his grip. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. Is this better?”
“Sim,” she whispered.
He brushed a damp curl back from her face, noting her wide, drugged eyes, her cut lip, the bruises marring her soft olive skin. A rapid pulse beat at the base of her throat, and her breath was still coming in shallow pants.
His gut knotted. It was his fault that it had come to this. If he hadn’t rejected her so completely, she’d never have turned to Okeanos. She’d have been his mate already, with no other man having the right to claim her.
He silently vowed that if—no, when—they got out of this, he’d spend the rest of his life making it up to her.
“Are you all right?” he asked. “You understand what he’s asking?”
Her lower lip trembled. “He made me drink something. Everything feels—strange. It made me—”
“An aphrodisiac,” Okeanos said dismissively. “My father’s own recipe. He used it often.”
Rui’s jaw clenched so tight it hurt. The Rock Run clan had never sunk so low as to employ aphrodisiacs, drugs designed to increase sensation to a nearly unbearable pitch, but he’d heard the rumors. No wonder Valeria had been driven nearly mad by the pain. He could kill Okeanos for that alone.
He ignored the other man to speak to Valeria. “It will pass, querida.
”
She didn’t seem to hear him. Instead, she frowned at Jace Jones.
“Valeria?” Rui said.
She passed a shaky hand over her face, still looking at the earth shifter. “Wh—where’s Merry?”
Rui froze. “She’s not here?” He glanced around. He’d been so focused on Valeria and Okeanos that he hadn’t realized Merry wasn’t in the cavern.
“No. Petros gave her to him.” She indicated Jones.
Everyone looked at the tall, black-haired man. He stared back proudly, seemingly unconcerned that he was the sole earth shifter in a roomful of hostile river and sea fada.
“I left her with Hunter,” he told Valeria. “I wasn’t sure what I’d find down here.”
“Oh. That’s okay then. Isn’t it?” she asked Rui.
He narrowed his eyes at Jones. “What’s your game?” If all he’d wanted was Merry, the two of them could’ve been miles away by now. So what was he doing here?
The earth shifter moved a shoulder. “Merry asked me to help her mama.”
“And you agreed? Just like that?”
“Just like that.” The reply was just this side of insolence. Then he expelled a breath. “Look, it was obvious your woman hadn’t gone willingly with Okeanos. I couldn’t just leave without trying to help. We’re not all bastards, you know.”
Rui gave an ostentatious sniff. Damn if the man didn’t have the sharp, clean scent of truth. Still, since when would a Baltimore shifter go out of his way to help a Rock Run woman?
“Thank you,” he said, “but you’re out of your fucking mind if you think you’re going to take Merry. I’ll kill you myself if I have to. Still, I agree this is no place for a child. You say she’s safe with your man?”
“Yes. Hunter’s one of our best. And the only threat I see is down here with you water shifters.” He glanced at Okeanos and the other four men.
Rui ignored the dig to turn back to Valeria. Her whole body was trembling now. He gently guided her to a cushion against the wall and then crouched on his haunches before her. “You don’t have to do this, querida. I don’t care what Okeanos says. Tradição holds the woman has to agree to the mating.”
And to the fada, tradição—tradition—had the force of law.
Claiming Valeria Page 25
