Tall, Dark & Apocalyptic (14 page)

As she tensed against him, a low moan of exquisite want throbbing in her throat, Audie lifted his lips just a fraction. “Let it go, Yeira. Stop fighting the pleasure and let it roll over you.”

She gasped, feeling as if she might burst. “I can’t…”

A thick finger slipped inside her vagina, filling it with heat and stroking along the nerve-drenched flesh to reverberate through her system.

Yeira screamed as the delicious invasion sent her past the point of return. “I’m…” She screamed again as wave after wave of pleasure assaulted her…spinning her thoughts into formless creatures. Overwhelmed by a fireworks display of sensations repeatedly pelting her awareness, Yeira’s muscles tightened and the knot in her belly opened like a flower, letting the pleasure flow like lava through her unresisting body.

She barely hit the bottom of her orgasm before Audie had her in his arms. He carried her a few feet and laid her on the bed of leaves, covering her with his big body and clasping her hands in his, holding them above her head. Her knees opened of their own accord and she shimmied, trying to get his lovely cock between her legs.

But the hunter held her gaze, his face tense with need. His navy-blue gaze was serious, intense. “Are you sure, Yeira? I’ll suffer no regrets from our joining. Every cell in my body screams for you. But I won’t do this if you aren’t certain.”

Yeira looked up into that penetrating gaze and felt a jolt of despair. Why was he asking her that now? She’d pushed her doubts away…hadn’t she? Of course she had concerns about what they were doing. It wasn’t smart…it wouldn’t end well…but she wanted him. So badly. Oh god, she didn’t want to think.

The hunter’s handsome face turned more the iron mask with every thought that passed through her mind…as if he could hear each, damning one. Finally, frowning, he pushed away from her and stood.

Yeira sat up, terror clawing her throat. “Wait! Where are you going?”

Audie grabbed his discarded pants. “I told you, I’ll not take you if you aren’t fully sure it’s what you want.” He started to walk away.

“But I am…why are you leaving?” Even as she leapt to her feet, Yeira realized how desperate she sounded. She couldn’t seem to stop herself.

He turned back, closing the distance between them in two large strides, radiating frustration. Every muscle in his body seemed made of iron. But his voice when he addressed her was filled with pain rather than anger.

It was like a razor across her heart.

“I’ve no doubt your body wants me, woman. I can smell your need…taste it on your lips. But it isn’t only your body I mean to claim. It’s your mind.” His lips opened as if there was more he wanted to say, but he shook his head and turned away from her.

Yeira watched his fine, naked form stalk away from her until it was consumed by the velvet darkness, and felt everything inside her melt down into a puddle of despair.

What had he seen in her eyes? And, whatever it was, why the hell hadn’t she hidden it better?

Edwige watched Yeira carefully, through Ebon’s eyes. Finding her there had been a bonus. Edwige had come to the wood expecting to find Joris. But watching the girl and the hunter, Edwige had temporarily forgotten her own problems. Despite her anger about the girl’s disloyalty, she felt a pang of pity for her at the hunter’s desertion. Edwige cocked her head, narrowing her eyes as, sobbing softly, the girl quickly pulled her clothing back on.

It was really too bad things couldn’t have gone better. Edwige wouldn’t mind having a Sorceri bounty hunter in her pocket.

She sent a mental directive to her familiar to locate Kord and then clasped her bluestone with a smile. It had been far too long since she’d seen Yeira. It would be good to settle things with the girl. Once and for all.

Edwige pictured the spot in the wood Ebon had shown her, the world softened, and she started the headlong rush through time and space.

~
TD&A
~

Audie’s cock was impossibly hard. His balls were so full they ached. And his heart…well that organ had taken another shredding. He leaned against a poivron tree and sucked in a deep breath, trying to find some semblance of calm after the volcanic sexual play with Yeira.

Her flavor still coated his lips, her taste a sweet tang against his tongue, and her cries of delight still rang in his ears. Shaking his head, Audie pushed those thoughts away. He needed to forget what had happened between them, not relive it until his balls burst with debilitating lust.

Damn the woman! Her resistance to what Audie recognized as the inevitable was infuriating. But his own, personal code wouldn’t let him pursue the mating he so badly desired unless she was a fully willing participant.

If she ever reached that state.

He couldn’t remember ever being so needful…so frustrated. He briefly considered taking matters into his own hand and just as quickly rejected it. An unplanned, long-overdue coupling with Yeira aside, the dead lands were hardly the place to be caught unawares—with one’s pants, literally, around one’s ankles.

Something rustled overhead and Audie’s head jerked up, his eyes scouring the star-filled sky for the cause. Though the trees rustled in a soft breeze, he couldn’t see any distortions that might indicate a presence in the strange, drooping branches.

The night was quiet and still. In fact, the silence in the dead lands was oppressive…unnatural. As far as he could tell nothing lived there except the nasty marauders. The poison-soaked environment was too corrosive for all but the most vile creatures in the magical world.

Audie’s body started to lose some of the horrible tension. He quickly slathered gel on his leg wounds and dressed. But with the calming of sexual tension, guilt slid in to torture him about walking away from Yeira. Immediately worry for her replaced concern for his surroundings and he made a sudden decision. They’d hit an emotional impasse. But it was still imperative for them to work together. And if he was honest with himself he wanted to stay close to her, keep her safe, no matter the cost.

Decision made, he turned and started back. He didn’t get far. He stopped with a jolt of alarm at a whisper of unexpected sound.

The void was being used nearby.

A large figure appeared in front of him and Audie grabbed his knives. He blocked the intruder with a knife point to the heart, his second knife slicing toward the figure’s throat.

“Kord! It’s me, Grimm.”

It took a second for Audie’s brain to absorb Grimm’s words. Audie blinked, surprise making him momentarily mute.

Grimm very deliberately lowered his weapons and stepped back, away from Audie’s blades. “We don’t have much time,” the other hunter told him. “Edwige’s on her way.” He glanced around. “Where’s Yeira?”

Audie lowered his knives, his thoughts racing. “What do you know of Edwige?” He frowned. “For that matter, what do you know of Yeira?” He flipped a knife so it was clasped in his hand, blade down and stepped forward, placing the tip in the soft spot where Grimm’s neck met his shoulder. It happened so quickly Grimm didn’t even have time to react.

Grimm’s eyes widened slightly but his expression didn’t change other than that. He looked as if he’d expected Audie’s response. “I don’t have time to explain right now. Yeira’s in danger.”

Audie hesitated another second. “And I’m to believe you came to save her? One of Edwige’s creatures?”

“I think you know by now that Yeira’s not like the rest. She’s different in more than one way. And you can’t kill her, Kord.” It was Grimm’s turn to frown. He didn’t move though, didn’t try to disarm the other hunter. He clearly wanted to use reason over force.

Questions tumbled over one another in Audie’s brain. Everything he’d ever believed was being assaulted, turned upside down. Despite the fact that he’d already known Yeira was special. Having another hunter claim it, especially one that Yeira had accused of being reborn, was disconcerting.

Audie held Grimm’s dark gaze a moment longer and then inclined his chin. “I know Yeira’s special. And despite what you think, I have no intention of harming her. In fact I trust her with my life.” His words surprised even him, and Audie had to fight to hold a neutral gaze as he realized it. His frown deepened. “Unfortunately for you, that’s the rub, my old friend. You see, she told me you were reborn too.”

Grimm wasn’t quite as good at schooling his expression as Audie. His eyebrows shot up in surprise and he moved, startled. “I…it’s not what you think, Kord.”

Audie sighed, because he realized there was only one thing to do. And he wasted no more time doing it. “I’m sorry, old friend.” Audie’s fist tightened around the knife and he drove it into the other hunter’s shoulder.

~
TD&A
~

Yeira straightened at the sound of a deep-throated cry. Her gaze shot in the direction the hunter had gone, alarm making her heart pound. “Audie!”

She jumped to her feet, intending to follow the sound, but stopped in her tracks as a dust spiral started on the ground a few feet in front of her. She recognized the arrival of someone from the void and stepped back, her gaze sliding worriedly toward the cry she’d heard.

When she turned back, a short, wide shape was beginning to form. A moment later, Edwige’s face was clearly visible. Fully formed, the dark one gave Yeira a smile that looked sincere. “Darling, how good to see you again.”

Yeira frowned. “Edwige. I wish I could say the same.”

The witch’s smile slipped for just a beat and then returned, brighter than ever. But the dark gaze, black like the raven’s, was glossy with anger. The incongruence of the two emotions on one face was unsettling.

In reaction to the other woman’s presence, and the hostility in her ebony gaze, Yeira felt the energy spinning beneath her ribs, her alarm causing it to rise.

“Come home with me, darling. I miss you.”

Yeira took a step backward, her gaze sliding toward the night sky. The raven had to be nearby, and he would no doubt be looking for Audie. Alarm made the energy in her breast spin faster, fingers of power scraping along her skin. “Where’s Ebon?”

Edwige’s plain, round face hardened. “He’s taking care of a little task for me. You needn’t worry, child.”

Yeira frowned. “What task?”

Edwige’s plump hands twisted in front of her, displaying an agitation she’d barely masked behind a suspiciously pleasant greeting. “He’s gone after Joris.”

“Gone after him? Why?”

“Joris betrayed me.” Her midnight gaze fixed on Yeira, filled with unspoken censure. The witch couldn’t possibly be unaware that Yeira planned to betray her too. “He seeks to take what I’ve built away from me,” Edwige went on. “He’ll die for his ambitions.”

Underscoring her dark words, thunder rumbled overhead and slimy dread crawled up Yeira’s spine. Decades of indulging in death magic had made Edwige incredibly powerful. She carried within her breast an incomprehensible magic, dark and oily and destructive. Evidence of the destructive energy emerged in that moment, as rage pulsed from her in shimmery waves of power. A biting cold permeated the clearing where they stood.

Yeira rubbed her arms and trembled. The water in the creek spun from its banks, crashed against the shore, and splashed over into the sand. The branches high above their heads swayed and shuddered in the building wind.

Edwige focused her gaze on Yeira, her black eyes snapping with rage. “I don’t suffer betrayal well, Yeira.” Edwige’s hair lifted away from her face and drifted in the energy-drenched wind.

A cold dread slithered down Yeira’s spine. So Joris had been telling her the truth. He had split from Edwige. He must be mad if he thought he could best her. “You killed all those reborn. Your creations.”

Edwige shrugged. “I couldn’t let you turn them away from me. It had to be done.”

Tears filled Yeira’s gaze. She was to blame for their deaths. She’d been responsible. A cold fist settled in the center of her chest and the rising tide of her power ebbed under a wave of sheer horror. “I had no intention of turning them, Mother…”

The witch jerked as if slapped, her eyes softening. Yeira had always resisted referring to Edwige that way. It had been a bone of contention between them since Yeira reached adulthood. But, standing there, witnessing the terrifying heights of power the dark one had achieved, Yeira finally realized something.

It had been said that Edwige could only be defeated by her own hand.

But there was another way.

Of all the thousands of reborn Edwige had created, Yeira alone harbored the solution to Edwige’s defeat.

Blood.

It was both the foundation and the death of power.

In that moment Yeira understood why Joris had dragged her to his lair, what he’d been about to do to her. And with understanding came fear. If Joris’s plan had merit, that meant that Yeira was a potent weapon against the dark one.

Maybe the only weapon that could take her down.

And the dark one would be all too aware of that.

She started to back away. She was in grave danger.