Dark and Damaged: Eight Tortured Heroes of Paranormal Romance: Paranormal Romance Boxed Set (127 page)

“You have to save him!”

“I cannot. No one can. It was his choice.”

She knelt by her mate, touched his graying face, watching his hair turn white. He breathed in loud, anguished gasps.

Aurora looked at the Silver Wizard. “Please, help him. Please, I’ll do anything!”

“Anything?” Tristan sat by Robert, stroking his head. “It means giving up all you cherish.”

“What?”

“Your freedom.” The wizard’s dark eyes flickered and turned ice blue. “You can save him by binding your life forces together. You will be together forever. If he dies, you die.”

“You promise he’ll live?” she asked.

“I cannot promise this. But it could save him. You will never be free. Never free to seek your sister, care for her again. You must remain always with Robert. Where he goes, you must go. This was the way of bonding with the dragon, why Robert seldom went far from his lands and the dragon.”

If it didn’t work and Robert died, her life was over.

Aurora stared at the dragon’s heart lying upon the rock. Bind herself to Robert. Never being free, always tied to him. And then she looked at her mate and knew…

She loved him. And if this meant saving him, and giving up her promised freedom, so be it, as long as he lived.

“And Emily?” Tears rolled down her cheeks, splashed onto Robert’s sunken cheek. He was fading fast. “I must have assurances she will be okay.”

The wizard closed his eyes and then opened them, his eyes shining like chrome. Then he blinked and they turned dark once more.

“Emily is safe. She’s always been safe and cherished in another Lupine pack. But only Cadeyrn can set her free.”

Tristan stared at the beating heart of the dragon. He stared with such intensity, she wondered what was wrong and why he did not seem upset. The silver dragon had been his pet. Why wasn’t he furious?

“I can’t touch it,” he murmured. He looked skyward. “Cadeyrn!”

She snatched up the dragon’s heart as the earth rumbled and the Shadow Wizard appeared. He gave the other wizard a sympathetic look and then assumed his usual impatient expression.

“Aurora.” The Shadow Wizard snapped his fingers and her slave collar appeared in his hand. “You have the dragon’s heart. Give it to me and I shall destroy this. Your sister will be spared and you will be free forever.”

But Robert would die.

“I can’t sacrifice Emily for Robert. He gave his life for her. I have to save him,” she whispered.

Something flickered in the wizard’s eyes. “You would give up your heart’s desire, your freedom? And your sister’s life, all for this wolf?”

“I love him.” Aurora had bargaining power. She held the dragon’s still beating heart. “I will remain a slave. You can do whatever you wish with me, if you spare Robert’s life and Emily’s.”

“Such selflessness,” he murmured. “You were once a spoiled, self-entitled brat. And you learned, from each master you served. The witch taught you strength with her cruelty. And courage. The troll taught you the value of knowledge. And the ogre taught you to honor the land, and to have compassion for living things.”

Aurora stared. “You sent me to those masters just so I’d learn?”

He exchanged a meaningful glance with Tristan. “You are half Lupine, half Mage and ruled by both of us. We agreed we needed to save you, for your parents were arrogant, selfish wolves with no thought for others.”

With his hand, the wizard crushed the collar and it turned to crumbled bits. “You are free, no more a slave.”

“Emily?”

“She will remain with her foster family and I vow to you from this moment on, I formally free her from becoming my slave.” Cadeyrn looked at Tristan. “The Silver Wizard is my witness in my oath to you.”

“Give him the heart, Aurora,” Tristan ordered.

She handed Cadeyrn the heart. Cadeyrn took the dragon’s heart and squeezed it. Silver blood ran down into the earth. Then he cut off a piece and handed it to Aurora. “Eat this.”

Aurora stared at the bloodied organ and felt sick. Then she glanced at Robert, who was wheezing. Dying.

He had granted her heart’s desire. He loved her, and he’d sacrificed everything for her, just as he had for his people. It was about damn time someone did something in return for him.

“I love you, Robert.” Tears filled her eyes. “I think I’ve always loved you, but I was too afraid, too mistrusting to realize it.”

“Say these words after you eat the heart. Then kiss your mate.”

Cadeyrn told her what to recite.

“I, who am of the Earth and mortal, and take this life into my body so others may live,” she recited after him.

She ate the piece of dragon’s heart. It tasted sweet, like honey, and tough as sinew. She chewed and swallowed, fighting her gag reflex.

Then she bent down and kissed Robert. His lips were icy and tasted like death. She breathed into his mouth, her tears dripping upon his cheeks.

Aurora sat back, clenching her hands. It
must
work. “Live,” she whispered. “Please live. I can’t go on without you.”

Robert opened his eyes. His hair turned black, and the tattoo snaking down his shoulder and around his neck vanished. Aurora cried out and embraced him, her tears dampening his neck. She kissed his cheeks, his lips, laughing as she did so.

Then she placed a palm upon his chest. His heart beat there, strong and fierce. He looked dazed, and then looked at her. Really looked at her.

“Aurora,” he said thickly. “My mate. My love. What did you do?”

She touched her mouth to his again, feeling his warm breath feather over her lips. No longer cold, but warm. “I ate the dragon’s heart and tied myself to you forever.”

Moisture shimmered in his green eyes. “My love, you did… this… sacrificed your freedom for me?”

“I love you. I couldn’t let you die.”

He reached out as if to embrace her, but his arms fell to his side as if he were too weak to hold her.

“The tattoo is gone.” Cadeyrn frowned. “Pity, Tristan. You always did such nice work.”

“I can design a very good likeness of Justin Bieber,” Tristan offered.

Aurora held Robert close, feeling him shake as if he were freezing. “How long will it take him to recover?”

“A few days.” Tristan leaned down, studied Robert. “He will be weak as a pup, for in essence, he has been reborn.”

A sly smile touched the wizard’s mouth. “But be warned, Aurora. When he recovers, he will be stronger than ever. His male instinct will be very, very strong. He will be one sex-starved wolf.”

“A fucking machine,” Cadeyrn added helpfully.

“So crude.” Tristan brushed the dirt off his fingers. “I believe you shall need help getting him into bed.”

He waved a hand and she found herself in the bedroom of the cottage with the hot spring. Robert lay upon the bed, fast asleep, his face boyish, unlined. Aurora stroked his head.

The two wizards stood by her. “He will rest now. Care for him, for he is your mate,” Tristan said solemnly.

But she had one question for Cadeyrn. “Why did you want the dragon’s heart, if you only wished to return it to Tristan?”

The Shadow Wizard looked solemnly at her. “That is a private matter. Go care for your mate.”

The two trouble-making wizards vanished into a puff of silver and gray smoke.

Aurora picked up the cell phone on the bedside table. Much had to be done, to alert the pack as to what happened. She would need help in the coming days.

It was time to test their bonds of loyalty.

***

Four days later, she remained in the cottage and was with Robert when he finally woke up.

She watched his eyes flutter open. Aurora raced to his side and hugged him. “Thank the goddess you’re awake. I’ve been watching for days.”

Slowly, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, shaky as a newborn colt. He waved off her offer of help and headed into the bathroom.

When he returned and slid back beneath the covers, she drew the bedside table over to him and began to feed him the beef stew she’d made.

“Just until you gain your strength back.”

He watched her as he took a bite and swallowed. He had not spoken since falling into unconsciousness and she wondered what thoughts raced through his mind.

“Your hair is so black now.” Aurora handed him a cup of water, which he sipped through a bright green straw. “So thick and black. You look like you’re twelve. I believe I like the gray better. Shall I dye it?”

A low growl rumbled from his throat.

“Then again, I’d rather watch you grow old and gray naturally, seeing that it means I’d have to dye my hair as well. So we could be a matched set.”

He pushed aside the tray and cleared his throat. “Do…”

Voice raspy, he took another sip of water. Then he spoke in a stronger tone. “Do you have regrets?”

At her puzzled look, he tapped her chest. “About tying yourself to me for your life. You will always be enslaved to me. We can never part.”

“Don’t call it that. You hate the word ‘slavery’ and so do I. This wasn’t enslavement. It was bonding.” She touched his now-unmarked neck. “You enslaved yourself to the dragon and wore Tristan’s mark. All to save your people. It takes tremendous will and courage to do so.”

“You did it willingly as well. And I never knew you were wolf. How could I not have sensed it?”

She touched his face. “Rest now.”

She remained with him. They both slept through the night. In the morning, Robert awakened, strong, vital and very virile.

He made love to her throughout the day. Later, exhausted, they held each other.

Naked, she lounged upon the bed. Robert stretched out alongside her. She turned, admiring his sleek, muscled flanks, the dark hair upon his chest, the long, strong lines of bone and sinew. Such a perfect male.

Such a perfect wolf.

Robert circled her nipple with one finger in lazy strokes. “I do believe you look hungry, Mrs. Keynes.”

He got out of bed, went to the kitchen and brought in a china bowl filled with raspberries and sweet buttercream. Aurora’s body clenched with anticipation. Dipping a berry into the cream, he fed it to her. Her tongue lapped the sweetness.

He spread her legs wide and dipped his hand into the buttercream and removed another raspberry.

“Robert…”

“Hush. Just relax.”

She felt a smooth glide of his fingers, and then he inserted the berry into her vagina. Aurora’s eyes widened as he bent his head and began to suckle her, each stroke of his tongue sliding over her clit, then deep into her vagina.

Grabbing fistfuls of sheets, she writhed but his hands held her thighs prisoner. Sensations pummeled her as he flicked his tongue faster…

She shrieked as the climax slammed into her.

Robert raised his head, a look of male satisfaction on his face. “Delicious.” He ran his tongue along the rim of his mouth. “You always taste delicious. I love licking your pussy.” He waggled his fingers, slick with buttercream and her juices. “Even without the raspberry flavor.”

They made love in the little cottage for three days. Each afternoon he took her hunting as wolf, teaching her how to flush out scents and listen for the faint rustlings in the undergrowth that indicated prey.

Every day they returned at dusk, the cottage neat and clean, the bed made with fresh linens, and dinner warming for them in the oven.

On the third day as they returned to the cottage, they ran into a young man sitting in a patch of sunlight by a pine tree.

He was quite handsome, with black curly hair with a streak of silver shot through it. He wore black leather pants and a gray t-shirt. There was something oddly familiar about his crooked grin.

Robert bristled and stepped protectively in front of Aurora. “Who are you and how did you get on my land?”

“I mean no harm.” The stranger stood and held out his hands. “Peace.”

Aurora noticed the man’s right pinkie ended in a stub and her heart leapt with hope. Could it be?

“My name’s Sebastian.” His blue eyes twinkled. “You might call me a friend of Tristan’s. I stopped by to see how you two are doing.”

His gaze dropped to their linked hands. “Looks like you are doing well.”

She caught a glimpse of a silver dragon tattoo curled around his neck.

Robert relaxed slightly. “We are. And you?”

A delicate question, layered with intrigue.

“I’m good. Very good. Back to normal, you might say.” Sebastian gave a crooked grin. “Feels like a chill in the air. You might want a bonfire.”

The young man picked up a stick, pointed a finger at it. Flames shot out of his finger, igniting the branch. Sebastian blew it out. He grinned again. “Useful talent for roasting marshmallows.”

Tears shimmered in Aurora’s eyes and Robert drew in a breath. “Yes,” he said thickly. “Very much so. I’m so glad to meet you, Sebastian. So very glad.”

The young man nodded. “Well, have to shove off now. Tristan’s waiting for me. Take care, both of you.”

With a nod, Sebastian headed off, down the path they had traveled.

“Sebastian? Scales. He’s alive. I’m so happy. But how?” Wiping away her tears, Aurora looked after the young man as he stuffed his hands into his pockets and whistled. As he reached a bend in the path, he suddenly vanished.

“He was a dragon and dragons have powerful magick, especially when they are endowed with it by the Silver Wizard,” Robert murmured.

They walked back to the cottage. Aurora’s nose twitched as she smelled dinner cooking.

“How did this happen? It’s like fairy magick. Or dragon magick,” Aurora said, opening the oven and sniffing the aroma of chicken and vegetables.

“Wolf magick.” He drew her into his arms as she shut the oven door. “All these years I’ve done so much for my pack, and now they return the favor.”

“Because they love you.”

“Because they love you as well, sweetheart.” He touched his nose to hers. “You saved us all. I had a heart of stone for strangers, and your courage and strength took that heart and smashed it so I could live again. No one else had the courage to do what you did.”

The real curse had not been in Caroline’s dark thirst for power, she realized. As he lowered his head to hers for a deep, lingering kiss, she hooked her arms around his neck.