Genesis (31 page)

His eyes glazed over. “Hate works as
well as love in bonding.”

I growled. “You need to come up with a
more original comeback. Jett already beat you to that
line.”

He laughed. “And yet, here you are with
me.”

“
Think about what you’re
doing, Luke.”

He licked his lips, bringing my
awareness of him to a whole new level of need. My body shook from
his attack, making it difficult for me to focus. “I’m merely
finishing what we started back in the human realm. Now you are in
my land and there is no one to stop me from claiming you. All I had
to do was wait. It didn’t hurt that Tabitha is so
gullible.”

I gasped. “Did you make up the rumors
about the raiders?”

He smiled a grin that was so evil it
chilled me. This wasn’t him. It couldn’t be.

“
The council is easily
manipulated. What better way to explain your abduction?”

“
Then it was a lie?” I
didn’t think the fae were allowed to lie.

He raised his eyebrows and tilted his
head. “It could be true. There is nowhere to go, Rayla. The only
way you are leaving this room will be as my bondmate.”

I ran to the door and pounded the cold
surface that I now realized was ice. Why hadn’t I seen it before?
This whole room was made of water in some respect. But I could
breathe. I concentrated on melting the door. Nothing happened. I
turned toward the window, hoping for some way out.

Luke grabbed my shoulders and wrenched
me around. “Did you really think I would let one of them have you?
I told you from the beginning you were mine.”

My knees went rigid. “I am not a thing,
Luke. You cannot own me.”

“
No?” His hands slid down my
sides to my hips, burning a trail of steam with them. “We shall
see.”

In two seconds I was in his arms as he
carted me toward the pool. I had to think. I had to find a way out
of here—away from him.

I’d thought of Luke as almost
childlike, incapable of inflicting true harm, but that was what he
had wanted me to see. I called one last time to Heath. No answer
came. His hand slid up my arm and something metal bit into my skin.
I couldn’t see what he had put on me, but I suddenly fell limp.
Some kind of present that was.

Luke stepped into the pool and we sunk,
the chill of the water overwhelming my senses. I only had time to
draw a quick breath before it entombed me. I was really going to
drown. All of my fears for water resurfaced, smothering me even
further.

I tried to push against his chest and
kick his shins, but my limbs wouldn’t work. We kept sinking deeper
and deeper until I was sure my lungs would explode.

Then I noticed a tug at my feet as if
tiny hands had grabbed my toes and yanked. We spun in a whirlpool,
going to depths I had never even imagined. I was going to die. That
was all there was to it. I had trusted one too many times, and now
I was going to pay the price. So much for fighting for love and
freedom. So much for honor and commitment.

Only one thought cheered me up: At
least Ainessa wouldn’t get me. Once I was dead, my power couldn’t
be harnessed.

I laughed and tiny bubbles swirled
around me. My body convulsed as ice slithered through my
veins.

With every passing second, my vision
blurred more than it already had. Just before it faded to black,
Luke’s face came into view, cutting through the murky water toward
mine. He smiled and hugged me to him. His voice sounded strange at
this depth, but I still understood him.

“
No one will take you away
from me ever again.”

My eyes fluttered closed, and I let out
the last bit of air I had in me. Before I could suck in any water,
Luke’s lips covered mine. Insistent, he pressed my lips apart with
his tongue, breathing into my mouth.

What a twisted man. I’d thought him
strong enough to fight Ainessa off. I had been wrong about him, but
my mistake didn’t just affect me. What would happen to my family,
to my friends and other Elementals who were all counting on me to
help them? What would happen to the messed-up world I had fought so
hard to keep exactly the way it was?

Luke yanked me out of the water and
onto a hard surface in a matter of seconds. Off came the manacle,
thank heavens. I coughed and gagged, yet managed to twist away when
he touched my shoulder. He was still able to pull me into his
arms.

His soul slithered along mine,
intertwining itself into crevices I didn’t know were
there.

My swollen throat made speaking
difficult, but I didn’t allow it to stop me. “How could you let
Ainessa do this to you? After everything she has already taken from
you, why don’t you fight?”

I found myself on my back with Luke
looming over me, pure hatred frosting over his blue eyes. My head
ached from the impact; my vision flickered again. “I have already
told you, she is not controlling me!”

I blinked a few times, and he finally
came into focus. “So it was all an act before?”

He sneered at me. “This is your doing.
When you decided to let the lords choose for you, I had to change
strategy.” He touched my face with softened fingers. “Don’t you
see; they wouldn’t have chosen me.”

He’d said as much before,
but I didn’t listen to him. Well, I sure as heck was listening now.
I put my hand against his cheek, and he hissed in a breath. “I know
you think you have control right now, but you’re wrong.” I shook my
head. “Think about it. This isn’t you.
You
would never treat me this
way.”

For one second I thought I had him. His
eyes sharpened to the point that Luke gazed back at me. Just as
soon, his eyelids clamped shut and his face reddened as if someone
had cut off his air supply. When he opened his eyes again, she was
there. I wasn’t sure how I hadn’t noticed before. His blue eyes had
a halo around the iris the color of spring grass, just like
Ainessa’s eyes. It wasn’t much, but I could still make it out.
Suddenly it faded until it was barely visible. That answered that
question at least.

His fingers clamped around my chin.
“I’m done being the nice guy. I’m done with getting looked over
because I don’t fight hard enough to keep what should be mine. I
will not do that with you. I cannot.”

I settled my hands against his chest,
hoping the contact would bring him back to me. My only chance was
to get him to realize what was happening. “I wasn’t really going to
let the lords choose. I just wanted more time to get to know who
you really are, and I had hoped I would be able to see why you
wanted my power. Each of you has an agenda. I’m not that
dumb.”

Confusion creased his forehead. “You
hadn’t discounted me?”

“
Of course not, but the
other day, in my room, I was scared.
You
scared me. I thought for sure you
were tainted, and I’m even more convinced now.”

He clenched his jaw. “Don’t say
that.”

“
Luke—”

“
No.” A cold mask settled
over his face, breaking any hope I still had of escaping this.
“We’ve done enough talking. The process is almost complete. I would
be happier if you give yourself to me willingly, but I will not
stop if you don’t.”

I gave a mournful nod. “So that’s how
this is going to be?” I shrugged. “Maybe you’re doing me a favor? I
don’t want to tie myself to someone I love anyway.”

He cringed, but that didn’t stop him
from taking my hands to pull me up next to him. “I have to think
about my people, Rayla. You’ve seen where we live. We might as well
have been banished to the dark realms.”

Exaggeration aside, he had a point. “We
can change that without resorting to this. Tell me you don’t really
want this, Luke.”

His once warm eyes had iced over
completely now. “I’ll take you any way I can get you, and if that
means kicking and screaming then so be it.”

I wrenched away from him and scrambled
to my feet. “All this time I’ve been worried about Jett, and I
should have been focused on you!”

He stepped toward me, so I backed up.
“Why do you want to make this difficult?”

“
Why can’t you just wait
until I decide?”

“
You’ve had plenty of time.
You said yourself you could love all of us.”

A sinister glint flashed in his eyes,
giving me only a moment’s warning. He raced forward and caught me
around the chest before I could even move. My breath whooshed out
of me, but I tried to backhand him. He grabbed my wrist and clamped
it behind my back.

Blue specs of light bit against my skin
like swarming ants. I yanked on my arms. “No!”

He came at me stronger. My mind
shriveled from the onslaught. “Don’t fight me. We needn’t join
Ainessa. We can fight her together. You have no idea how strong we
will become.”

“
She’s already here, Luke!
If you bond with me, she will get my power.”

“
Stop saying
that!”

The particles came at me faster. I
focused on my skin, hoping to create a barrier like I had when I
fought Ainessa on the island, but his power dug through my shield
before it could fully form. Everywhere I looked on my arms, tiny
wounds oozed blood. I watched nearly fascinated as the drops pooled
together and dripped down my skin.

There had been no knocking on my mental
barriers this time because he already had a connection to me.
Despair settled into my lungs. I was supposed to be the most
powerful Elemental in existence, and yet I couldn’t keep Luke from
taking my power from me.

Streams of light flowed from my skin
and into him, almost masking the blood. My voice caught in my
throat. “If there is a creator out there somewhere, I ask you to
take me now. I do not want him to claim my power. I would rather
die.”

Luke blanched at my words before he
clamped a hand over my mouth. I didn’t struggle. I couldn’t. My
head hurt so bad I could barely stay conscious. Maybe I should give
in? Maybe I would die?

“
Let her go,” came a voice I
didn’t quite recognize.

Luke whirled around with me in his
arms. His body stiffened protectively around me. “You have no right
to be here.”

I opened my eyes and searched for my
rescuer. I expected Heath, or one of the other lords. A faint smile
made an appearance on my mouth at what I saw standing in front of
me.

Half man, half monster.

But all Creed.

His face was more human than before
with pale grey skin, although the reptilian scales still covered
his torso and legs. At least the oozing was mostly gone.

Creed gave Luke a glower that should
have come with a laser beam then stepped toward us. His solid voice
came again. “I said, let her go.”

Luke stiffened behind me. “I am a god
to you. You must kneel before me, Creature.”

Creed’s face scrunched in disgust. “Not
happening…ever again. I’ve been waiting millennia to teach you a
lesson, boy.”

I only had a moment to wonder what had
happened between these two. Luke raised a halting hand. “Creature!
I command you to stop!”

“
Ah,” said Creed. “I forgot
to mention one thing.” He was eye to eye with Luke now. “I have my
name back, and you had better leave before I sick the rest of my
pack on you.”

Luke whirled around and glared at me.
“You gave this monster a name?”

I bit my lip, refusing to answer
him.

He shook his head. “This isn’t over,
Rayla.”

I nodded. We’d been here
before.

When Luke vanished, the floor collapsed
into an unyielding abyss of darkness. Creed grabbed my hand and the
tug of the elements surrounded me. By the time space stopped
spinning my head might as well have been a fifty pound anchor
attached to my neck. I fell to my knees and clutched my skull.
“Make it stop,” I cried, rocking back and forth. “Make it
stop!”

“
I’m sorry, miss,” came
Creed’s soft reply. “I had to bring you here.”

I peeked open an eye. Blackness
surrounded us. “Where are we?”

His answer came swift and unyielding.
“The dark realms.”

I’d joked about being in hell before,
but now I literally was.

Much later, my head finally quit
hurting. Creed explained the pressure here is like being under
three hundred feet of water. Felt more like we were standing on the
bottom of the ocean at first. I had been sure my brains would leak
out my ears any second, but thankfully, they were still intact.
Although, if given the opportunity, I was sure a few people would
argue that point.

We were in a cavern the size of Rhode
Island, but I would have never known until the lights came on. Yes.
Seems the creatures of the dark use electricity. Who
knew?

Wraiths had to be the scariest of the
bunch, but those little whatchamacallits Gibbit had saved me from
were right nasty up close. Only about the size of a cockroach, they
had leathery black wings and skeletal faces.