Earth's Hope (9 page)

One by one, the six lead Lemurians shattered, splattering everything within reach with gore. Rune and the other bond animals were in their element, lapping up blood and guts. Nidhogg would have smiled, were their situation not so tenuous.

“Do it again,” Gwydion shouted. “Borrow power from the Earth if you need to.”

Breath hissed through Aislinn’s teeth. “At this rate, it will take days to knock off these sorry sons of bitches. Can’t we hurry it up?”

“Ye should thank the goddess we found something that works,” Arawn panted.

The threatening sensation that had bothered Nidhogg earlier rose to the fore. He smelled the dark god before he saw him and stepped forward, fire flashing from his mouth. “Perrikus, you old dog. I know you’re here. Come to gloat? Oh, wait a minute. I’m not under your dastardly thumb anymore.”

Looking as fresh as if he’d just stepped off a New York runway, the dark god sauntered around the corner of Fionn’s manner house. Auburn hair swirled around him, falling in waves to his waist, and his golden skin glowed. He turned sparkling green eyes Aislinn’s way and reached for her, but she jumped aside.

Rune launched himself at the dark god, but before he got within three feet, Perrikus waved a lazy hand, and the wolf’s arcing jump ended with him falling hard into the dirt.

Aislinn thrust herself between her wolf and the dark god. “Leave him alone.”

“Just as feisty—and desirable—as ever, I see.” The dark god licked his chiseled lips. He turned his nose upward, scenting the air. “What? Your Celt boyfriend doesn’t seem to be here. Excellent.” He rubbed his hands together. “What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him, eh?”

Aislinn turned away, but Nidhogg caught the scent of her arousal. The dark gods were sex incarnate. No one could withstand their pull.

Dewi landed and pushed to Aislinn’s side. “She is bound to me as well, scum-sucker. You’ll have to go through me to get to her.”

“Us too.” Timothy and Daniel flanked Aislinn.

“Och, you’re easy,” Perrikus said to Dewi. “All I have to do is dredge up Slototh’s Minotaur to keep you occupied.”

“Dewi,” Nidhogg bellowed. “You didn’t.”

“Later,” she shot back. “Next time you think I’m dead for a few hundred years, let’s see how long you stay faithful.”

“That’s hardly the point—” he sputtered, puffing fire-laced smoke as fury roared through him. Dewi was his. His. No other creature had a right to touch her.

“It’s exactly the point,” she countered, spinning to face him. “I thought you were dead. Dead. You hear me? What? Was I supposed to live out my next few thousand years in celibacy?”

“Stop it!” Aislinn shrieked. “This is how they win. By turning us against one another.”

“She has a point.” Dewi tossed her head, fire streaming from her mouth. She skewered Nidhogg with her dark gaze. “If you must dissect this, I say we do it later.”

Nidhogg turned away, recognizing wisdom in his mate’s words. But a small, wounded place burned deep inside him. Maybe they’d hash it out. Maybe they wouldn’t. Balanced against what they faced, its importance dwindled. He spewed fire at Perrikus, recognizing it as displacement for his anger and hurt.

The dark god screwed up his impossibly handsome face and laughed, sidestepping the flames with the grace of a dancer.

Chapter Seven

Aislinn shrank away from Perrikus, hoping to lose herself among the Celts and humans. Her breath caught in her throat, and her body was primed for sex, nipples achingly hard and pussy awash in liquid heat. Damn the dark gods to Hell. They all had that effect, at least on her. As if they’d cast her in a porn flick where all she could think about was spreading her legs for the first man to show up with an erection.

“Steady.” Timothy spoke low into her ear.”

She forced deep, even breaths, but it didn’t help. An arm latched around her shoulders from behind and she shoved it away, hissing and spitting like a scalded cat, before she realized it wasn’t Perrikus.

Bran’s touch was cool, measured. He came around to the front and leveled his copper gaze at her. “Doona fash, lassie. But I fear the plot thickens.”

Dewi glowered at Perrikus, and blasted him with fire, but it crackled against his warding and sloughed off. “Mind your own affairs,” she ground out. “Too bad I didn’t injure you worse when I had the chance.”

He tilted his chin with a jaunty smile. “I’ll give you points for boldness, dragon. I never would have suspected you’d pull your mate out of my prison.” Perrikus waved a hand. “At first, I was more cautious, but when centuries passed, I assumed—”

“Got lazy, more like,” Nidhogg broke in. He blasted the dark god with fire too, which spoke to his level of frustration, since he had to know it wouldn’t do any good.

Aislinn closed her teeth over her lower lip until she tasted blood. Pain had a salutary effect. It couldn’t have been easy for Nidhogg to hear about Dewi’s dalliance with the Minotaur. Aislinn winced; she’d been stuck inside Dewi’s body during that particular fall from grace, and the murky kinkiness of it still gave her nightmares.

Rune slunk to her side, still growling and she asked, “Are you all right? Did the fall hurt you?”

“My pride. What I wouldn’t give to sink my teeth into that bastard.”

“I heard that,” Perrikus called and danced from side to side in a macabre parody of a prizefighter. “Come and get me, wolf. I could use a bit of sport.”

Aislinn lunged for Rune’s neck and held him back. “He’s baiting you.”

“But…” The wolf whined a protest.

“No.” Aislinn’s conscience smote her. Rune was bonded to her, so he couldn’t challenge a direct command. She didn’t play that card often because it was so inequitable. Rune snapped his jaws millimeters from her face, and she realized he hadn’t forgiven her for the last time she’d pulled rank.

Gwydion, Bran, and Arawn advanced until they formed a line between Dewi and Perrikus. “You want something,” Gwydion growled. “What is it?”

Perrikus smiled and was transformed into such a profanely beautiful creature that his golden skin actually glowed as if illuminated from within. Aislinn took a few steps toward him before she understood she was caught in thrall and forced herself to halt. The dark god had noticed, though, and leered knowingly at her from in between the Celts and Dewi’s bulk.

Damn him!

Much as D’Chel had done on one of the borderworlds, Perrikus latched his gaze onto hers and ramped up the sexual energy pulsing from him until an orgasm coursed through her, leaving her legs weak and shaky.

“Go in the house.” Gwydion’s voice rang with command, but Aislinn ignored what was probably a prudent suggestion.

“I’m stronger than that,” she panted.

“Like hell, ye are,” the master enchanter said.

Pain shot up her leg. When she looked down, Rune’s jaws were around her calf. She sank a hand into his thick neck ruff and said, “Thank you.” The wolf didn’t answer, just bit harder. He’d done the same thing before to keep her mind clear enough to reason.

“I asked you a question.” Gwydion stared at Perrikus. “If ye’re not planning to answer it, we may as well get back to wiping out your Lemurian sacrificial sheep.”

“Hush,” Perrikus said in a stage whisper and grinned engagingly. “Once they find out, the gig will be up.”

His supercilious attitude blasted past Aislinn’s cautions, and she wrenched her leg out of Rune’s jaws and scurried forward. “They know. They’re not stupid. It’s just that they think differently than we do, and they were desperate. Only the truly hopeless would hook up with the likes of you.”

“You’re defending them?” Perrikus’s cultured tones rang with incredulity. “They would have killed you.”

“So would you,” she countered and crossed her arms over her chest. Lust shivered through her body, and she shook herself all over. “Stop that.”

“But you’re so desirable. D’Chel and I have created some particularly rich fantasies with you as the star.”

“I’ll just bet you have,” she ground out, surprised her back teeth didn’t crack from pressure.

“Enough,” Gwydion huffed and cut through the air with his hand. “I’ve dealt with you longer than I want to. You want something. Either spit it out or move aside.”

“Fair enough.” Perrikus shook hair behind his broad shoulders. Rather than his usual translucent robes, he was garbed in battle leathers, much like Bran and Arawn. The beige skins clung to him, outlining every nuance of his magnificent build.

Aislinn felt her gaze being drawn downward and was unable to interrupt its trajectory until Rune clamped his teeth onto her calf again. Thank fucking Christ he timed his bite before she laid eyes on a cock she remembered all too well.

“Hurry this up.” Arawn rolled his eyes. “Even the dead in my kingdom move quicker than you.”

“It’s simple, really.” Perrikus spread his hands in front of him as if he were at the head of a boardroom table in an upscale business preparing to present closing arguments. “Give me the girl, and I’ll take my reptiles and leave you in peace. I’ll even see that the Harpies let Fionn go.”

Aislinn lurched forward, intent on scratching out Perrikus’s dancing, green eyes. Gwydion caught one of her arms and Bran the other. “But he’s behind the Harpies snatching Fionn,” she shrieked, so furious the pull of the dark god’s sexuality shrank to nothing. “He just said so.”

“Get yourself together.” Gwydion spoke into her mind. “Now.”

“At least that explains why Harpies showed up after all this time,” Dewi spoke up. “Let me guess. You rousted them, promised them a taste of your body, and they jumped to do your bidding.”

“Close.” Perrikus licked his well-shaped lips and rearranged his body until each muscle stood out beneath his leather clothing. “D’Chel and I entertained them. It was a bit odd and extremely…unconventional, but we’re good at pleasing women, no matter what species they happen to be.”

“And did ye promise them peace?” Arawn inquired.

“Of course.” Perrikus’s smile widened.

Aislinn closed her hands into fists and forced a rationality she was far from feeling. “If I go with you, you’ll free Fionn?” she asked, barely recognizing the strained voice that issued forth as her own.

“Silence,” Dewi shouted. “You’ll do no such thing.”

“No kidding.” Timothy spat into the dirt. He and Daniel moved close and poured power into her to augment her own.

“It makes sense,” Aislinn argued, frantic to get Fionn away from the Harpy with the seductive silver eyes who had such fond memories of him in her bed. “Once Fionn is back, you can rescue me. I’ve held my own against that one”—she smirked and flicked her fingers at Perrikus—“and against D’Chel too. Don’t forget, I’m the one who took Slototh out of the game.”

“Hear that?” Perrikus extended both hands her way. “She will come with me willingly. You all heard her.”

“She dinna say she would.” Arawn’s voice cracked like a whip. “She merely inquired further regarding the terms of the bargain ye propose.”

Aislinn swallowed. It was a fine point, but an important one. Once she gave her word, no one—neither Celt nor dragon—could save her.

“Come, beautiful one.” Perrikus beckoned and drove lust her way until the only thing filling her mind was the outline of his cock straining beneath its leather covering. “I’ve dropped my wards just for you.”

If Gwydion and Bran hadn’t been holding her, Aislinn would have walked right into Perrikus’s arms. Her magic, even augmented with Daniel’s and Timothy’s, wasn’t strong enough to resist the dark god’s pull. The rational part of her brain shut down; all she could think about was opening her legs to the magnificence jutting from between his thighs. Wing beats rustled. They interrupted her concentration on the vision of masculine perfection standing twenty feet away, so she didn’t pay much attention.

“What the fuck?” Perrikus shouted.

The tractor beam that had her in its sights shattered. With her mind her own again, Aislinn watched Perrikus batting at something.

Bella.

The bird had come out of nowhere and drove her sharp beak into everything vital she could reach. So far, blood streaked down the dark god’s neck and from an eye socket. Aislinn panted, her mouth dry and bitter as ashes. Perrikus had almost had her and it hadn’t taken any effort at all. None. He’d snapped his fingers, and she’d made cow eyes at him and been willing to do anything he wanted.

Goddammit. I am not that weak.

Or maybe I am. Even the thought about how wonderful it would be to toss her freedom on the slag heap for Fionn had been planted.

By Perrikus.

Dewi jumped into the breach before Perrikus could ward himself again and scorched him with fire. Nidhogg joined suit. The air around the dark god developed a fiery hue.

“Hurry,” Aislinn screamed. “He’s making a portal to leave.”

The words had no sooner rolled off her lips, when the space where he’d been standing held nothing but smoky air.

“You can let go of me now.” She jerked free of the Celts and humans and stomped to where she could see the Lemurians. They milled about, rudderless, and she blew out a disgusted breath. Without leadership, it would take time for the reptilian hive mind to figure out what to do next.

“Strike,” she called over one shoulder. “There will never be a better time.” Rune would follow her. So would Bella with her bloody beak, who clearly felt quite full of herself. Without waiting to see if she’d have further backup, Aislinn raised her hands, called power, and loped toward the nearest Lemurian. He exploded into bits, which told her everything she needed to know. Perrikus had been somewhere behind the scenes, masterminding everything including the Lemurians’ shielding.

Above her, dragon wings cut through the air. Fire and magic gushed from Nidhogg, Dewi, and the other three, mowing through Lemurians as if they welcomed immolation. Humans fanned into the field, wielding death as power streamed from them. Aislinn embraced the pure, cold fury pouring through her. It cleansed her of the taint left from Perrikus and his sick, mesmerizing sexuality. She picked Lemurians randomly, pretended each was Metae, the Lemurian magelord who’d conscripted her into the Lemurian ranks. She’d fought for them for two years, believing they were on the same side, allied against the dark. Discovering the Old Ones had been in league with the dark gods the whole time still rankled, as did the knowledge she’d been used.