Shadows of Darkness (11 page)

Her eyes widened. "Seriously? What are you? And how do you know that?"

The night grew colder, and he gripped her arms more tightly. He didn't have time to answer questions, or to think about the fact that he'd just given her information he'd never given anyone in his life. No one knew how to kill him, no one except Maya. "Do you understand?"

She nodded quickly. "I've got it." She grabbed his wrists. "But don't lose yourself! I need you!"

"I know you do." He kissed her once, hard, and then broke away, shoving her into the crevice in the wall. As she crawled out of sight, as a deep sense of rightness settled over him. He knew he'd just completed his half of the trust stage by giving her the power to kill him. As he turned to face the night, he knew that there was another line being drawn on her arm, binding them closer together.

A low howl broke through the night, and he crouched, resting the fingertips of his right hand on the earth. The dirt was cold and wet, laced with rocks and the remains of the living creatures who had died there over the centuries. For a moment, he hesitated, his skin crawling at the idea of returning to that state that had once consumed him.

Then, directly across from him, he saw two glowing red eyes. As he watched, the shadows formed, taking the shape of a wolf. Two more sets of eyes appeared. The wolves spread out, encircling him on the three sides that were exposed, their upper lips curled in a deadly snarl.

He took a deep breath and calmed his mind, reaching out with his preternatural senses to touch them. He felt their evil, just as before, but this time, he looked for more. He searched for what they were...alive? Ghosts? Demon creatures? He sensed a life force within them, and knew then that they were linked to the living, even if they were not alive themselves.

He smiled, that slow, predatory smile that he'd worn for so many centuries. Where there was life, there could be death, at least when he was involved. He shoved his right hand deeper into the earth, and he took from it. He took life. He took death. He took every last breath from the earth. The dirt around his hand turned black and rotten as the earth died from his touch. His hand began to glow a bright white. Energy hummed down his arm, and his muscles went taut as he raised his head to look at the wolves.

They appeared to be swathed in a crimson hue now, and he knew his eyes were as red as theirs. The hunger inside him clawed to get free, but he kept a tight grip on it, refusing to allow it to claim his mind. He pulled his hand out of the dirt, and as he did, it vanished, disappearing from sight so that all that remained visible was the silvery, shadowy remains of his forearm, fading into nothing, an invisible weapon.

But his hand was still there, and it was deadly.

Levi stared at the wolves, waiting. His back was pressed against the rock, so that nothing could edge behind him and slip inside. His instincts howled with the urge to attack, but he fought it off, struggling to remain in control of the assassin within him. He waited. He would not strike first.
He would not become like he used to be
.

All three wolves attacked simultaneously. Levi hit the first one in the chest, and sucked every last bit of life from it in one hit. It howled in agony, and for a split second, he felt its life spiraling away from it. It wasn't an animal, but something else, a man who had once been alive, and now was truly, forever, gone. For a split second, anguish filled Levi for the man that he'd just killed, who had somehow become trapped in that hell, and then the other two latched onto him with their teeth. Poison leached into him, and his arms shriveled where their teeth were embedded. Levi cuffed the one holding onto his left arm, sucking the life out of it instantly. It shrieked and vanished, but the third one was still holding on.

He went down on his knees, fighting against the wave of weakness. He was slow, so much slower than he had once been. He fought to stay conscious as the wolf sucked his life force out of him, preying upon him exactly as he'd preyed upon so many others. Was Maya right? Was he the same? Was this what he would have become if he'd stayed with Merk?

The wolf was clamped down on his right forearm, making it impossible for him to reach it with his hand. He jammed his left hand into the dirt and sucked energy from the earth. His hand glowed and he jerked it out, pressing his finger between the shadow wolf's eyes.

It held his gaze for a moment, and he felt himself falling, sucked into their depths. His heart seemed to stop as he recognized what was coming for him.
Merk.

Then, just as he was losing the grip on his mind, the wolf dissolved with a howl of outrage.

Levi collapsed to his knees, weakness pervading his body as he scanned their surroundings for more wolves. The night was empty and clear, and the air was warm again. The threat was gone, but he'd awoken the monster within him. It raged inside him, demanding to feed, demanding prey. The half-lives of the wolves had only whetted its appetite, not sated it. Levi dug his fingers into the dirt, his entire body straining to hold onto his sanity. "Maya," he gasped, "I need your help."

She was there beside him instantly, her hands on his shoulders. "Levi, Oh, God, what happened? Your arm is shriveled. Oh, God, it's like my sister. They got you." The anguish in her voice was vivid, tearing through the agonizing battle in his mind. Her touch was hot, firing up his muscles everywhere she touched, but it wasn't enough. He needed more. He needed
her.
Blood bond. He needed to blood bond with her, to ground himself in her. "Give me your hand," he said. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he knew he was losing the battle. Merk had been there. Merk had been in the wolf. Merk was there in his mind, trying to take him. The wolf had weakened him, and Merk was trying to get him. "Now!"

She set her hand in his, but his fingers wouldn't close. He collapsed onto his side, his body rigid. "Kill me," he snapped. "Now. Do it! Jesus."

"No!" She grabbed his shoulders. "You did this for me. I'm not going to let you die."

He grabbed her arm and jerked her down toward him. She landed with a thud on her knees beside him. "Look into my eyes," he growled. "Look at who I'm becoming."

She searched his face, and he knew she was seeing the red glow, the bottomless depth of bitter, merciless death. "Damn it, Levi. That's not you!"

"Do it, now."

"I heard you think of the blood bond," she said. "Will that help?"

"I don't know. I can't." He gasped, his body convulsing as he fought the need thundering through him. "You have to do it. Once it takes me, I'm unstoppable. I'll never let you kill me. I'm too fast. You have to do it before it gets me."

"You're already too fast." She held up the axe she was still carrying and swept her hand across it. He scented the coppery smell of her blood instantly, and need lurched in his stomach, a deep primal need almost as powerful as his lust for death. He rolled onto his side as she grabbed his hand and raked it across the blade.

She slammed their palms together, and their blood mixed. Need pulsed through him instantly, and his body clenched in response.
Maya!
He grabbed her around the waist and hauled her onto him. She came willingly, pressing herself against him as she kissed him.

Her mouth was hot and sensual, but not enough. Not fucking enough. He lifted their clasped hands and pressed his mouth to their mingled blood. The blood was tangy and hot on his tongue and slid down his throat like a searing burn that ate away at his flesh. Maya's eyes widened and he grabbed her and dragged her down to him.

This time, when they kissed, their mingled blood was damp on his lips and tongue, and he offered them to Maya. She accepted hungrily, and the kiss turned carnal within a split second. White-hot lust lashed through his mind, blanking out the lethal hunger that had been amassing inside him, replacing it with an insatiable craving for the woman in his arms.

He rolled her onto her back, and stripped off their pants, plunging into her wet, welcoming body without even breaking the kiss. She gasped his name, and he felt her emotions pouring into him. He was swamped by her desire, her fear, her passion, and her unbridled desperation for him. He pumped harder and faster, unable to get deep enough or close enough to take the edge off the intensity of the emotions raging through him. And then, just as he thought he was going to crack, the words came, the words he didn't know, and yet somehow came alive within him.
Mine to you. Yours to me. Bonded by blood, by spirit and by soul, we are one. No distance too far, no enemy too powerful, no sacrifice too great. I will always find you. I will always protect you. No matter what the cost. I am yours as you are min
e.He gave her the words, his heart, and his soul, and then hung, suspended in fear as he waited for the reply that he knew had to come, knowing, somehow, that if she didn't say them back, all would be lost for him forever.

Her voice filled his mind, so tender and beautiful he felt as if the sun had plunged right through the blackness of his soul and cast light upon it.
Mine to you. Yours to me. Bonded by blood, by spirit and by soul, we are one. No distance too far, no enemy too powerful, no sacrifice too great. I will always find you. I will always keep you safe. No matter what the cost. I am yours as you are mine.

Maya.
Her name burst through him like a great light, and then he thrust again. The orgasm exploded through him, and she clung to him, whispering his name over and over and over again into his mind as his orgasm swept her up, mixing them together into a glorious, exulting victory of connection, hurtling them over the edge into a final, joined climax.

Maya's forearms started burning before Levi had even withdrawn from her body. She knew more lines were forming on her arms, marking her with his brand, and it felt so right. She needed that bond with him, and she knew there was no other future for her other than to be with him, on every level, no matter what happened. Perhaps their time together would be short. If so, she accepted it. Short was better than never having experienced the beauty of their connection.

She was trembling, a shivering that was originating from somewhere deep inside her. Levi pulled her into his arms and rested his forehead against hers. She realized that he was also trembling, and his skin was cold. She wrapped her arms around him, holding him close. There was so much to say, but at the same time, no words needed to be exchanged. She'd felt his battle with the predator within him, and she knew how strong it was, and how close it had come to taking him.

Her sudden understanding of how much he'd been willing to sacrifice for her made her hold him tighter. "Thank you," she whispered. "No one has ever risked his life for me like that."

"They were alive," he said, burying his face in her neck, as if he needed the comfort of her touch as much as she needed his. "The wolves. They weren't spirits. They had once been men. I killed them."

There was so much to his words. It meant he'd satisfied his half of the death stage by killing on her behalf. No wonder her arms were burning. They'd just done so many stages. All that was left was transference, and her half of the trust stage and death stages. The Calydon bond was trapping them, but she knew he hadn't saved her because of the
sheva
bond. He'd saved her because he was a man of honor. He'd pushed himself to the limit, and chosen to die instead of staying alive to fulfill his mission to kill Lord William.

He bowed his head, nestling more intimately against her. "They were trapped in the wolves," he said, his voice rough and harsh. "I could feel it. They were like me."

She frowned. "What?"

"They're Merk's. They had the same power I have." He lifted his head to look at her. His eyes were bloodshot, and his pupils were dilated. "Merk was controlling them. He saw me. He knows I'm alive. He almost got me. They're his wolves."

His words sank into her like a cold chill. "You mean, he sent the wolves to my village? He used them to trap me? Offering respite from the creatures
he
sent to destroy us?" Nausea churned in her stomach. "Did he kill my parents?"

Levi nodded. "I think those men were once like me. I think they were my future."

She stared at him as dark dread filled her. She didn't have to ask if he was serious. She could feel the weight of his words preying upon her. "You'd be a phantom wolf now if you hadn't been imprisoned, wouldn't you?"

"Probably. Or at least, I'd be on my way."

"So, what do we do?"

He wrapped his hand around the braided bracelet on her wrist, the one that bound her to Merk no matter what. "We kill him."

"But what about the wolves? Will that stop them?" Even as she asked it, she knew his answer. "They're too far gone, aren't they? They aren't men. The hunger—it owns them, right? They won't stop, will they? Why would Rohan think they defended ancient spirits, if they are tools that Merk created?"

"I've heard of guardian spirit wolves before, but these aren't them. Merk imitated them. And I guess that they periodically cease their attacks on your kingdom only because Merk pulls them back. My guess is that he gave your parents the sunlight because he was trying to convince them to go to him for protection, just like you eventually did. When they refused, he decided to take them out."

"Oh, God." She felt sick, so violently ill that she'd trusted the man who had set the scourge on her kingdom.

"Once he's dead, there will be no one holding them back." Levi inhaled deeply, and pressed his face to her neck again. "I never thought I'd be sane again," he said softly. "You brought me back. I can't tell you what it feels like to lie here with you, to feel your skin against mine, and to know that I'm not streaking across the countryside, hunting for someone to kill."

She hugged him more tightly, threading her fingers through his hair. "The blood bond is amazing, isn't it?"