The Fallen King: The Bellum Sisters 4 (paranormal erotic romance) (10 page)

He turned to her and there she
stood, arms wrapped around her naked waist, wet hair plastered to her wet face,
and shivering in the cold. She nodded to the clothes in his hand and he jerked
his arm out to her. With a bright blush, she took her sodden clothes and
started pulling on the wet material. His body warmed at the sight her
nakedness. Bare breasts, jiggling as she bent over to pull on her wet pants
could be in his hand if only he stuck out his arm. The wet material of her clothes
only clung to her body in ways that the
haute
demons would deem
inappropriate and lascivious. Though, he’d have to admit he rather liked the
sight on Abbigail.

“Stay here,” he ordered, his
voice husky

“What’s going on?”

He ignored the question. He wasn’t
convinced yet what had happened. Creeping to the end of the cavern, he watched
the ankle-deep water lap at the cave entrance. He stood there with rainwater
spilling down over him and watched the water as it grew steadily deeper and
deeper around his legs. It reached his knees in a matter of seconds.

“We must get out of here.”

Abbigail ran up to him and gasped
at the sight. “What kind storm is this?”

“Not normal.” His mind worked to
search for an answer and only one kept coming to mind. “The queen has very
strong magic,” he said softly.

“She’s doing this?”

He nodded slowly. “She sent the
birds to find us and when they did they called back to her and she let loose a
storm.”

Abbigail shivered and rubbed her
hands up and down her arms to warm herself. “Does that mean she’s close?”

“No, it just means she’s looking
for me.”

A whip of lightning sounded above
striking the ground. The earth shook and rumbled from the attack. The rain came
down faster, pelting the ground like wet darts above their heads.

“We must leave this place now.”
Alrik grabbed Abbigail’s small hand in his brute, dark one then they dove into
the water and swam out of the cove. Water pelted the lake’s surface up above
like a rain of bullets. Abbigail tried to swim to the surface but he halted her
and pulled her close. She wrapped an arm around his back and looked up at the
surface just as wary of the darkness above as he was.

He caught her gaze. Even in the
dark water, he saw her brilliant gaze. She looked scared. She was completely
dependent on him. She didn’t have the skill yet to bypass his mother’s magic.
Nodding towards the surface, she jerked her chin in acknowledgement then they
kicked their feet and swam for it. They broke through and sucked in ragged
breaths.

Sharp drops of rain pelleted
them. The rain fell so hard and fast the forest looked like a murky environment
in the distance. Wind whipped at them hard. Alrik acted quickly and jerked Abbigail
into his arms, wrapping both of them around her waist as the harsh gales pushed
them sharply to the side. His side hit the rocky coast near the cove and he had
only a moment to register the pain in his side before they were once against
jerked the other way.

The wind whipped them down under
the water. It sucked them in like a giant creature’s mouth taking a bite out of
them. He kicked them back to the surface and worked his legs hard in the heavy
water for what he hoped was the beach’s surface. He couldn’t see a thing, only the
dark grey of falling rain. What he thought looked like the green of the forest
looked too far away. It should be closer. Had the wind drifted them out to sea?

An even stronger gust swept
across them as if trying to tear them apart. Abbigail screamed, the sound
barely audible over the roar of the storm, and latched her arms around his
neck. His grip on her waist slipped, her arms slipped and with a shout she went
flying from his arms.

He swam hard through the water,
following the white streak of her shirt. She appeared then disappeared again
and again as water sucked her up and down. His arms burned but he dove towards
her. Fear caught him. He couldn’t lose her now, not when he’d come so far.

“Abbigail!” he shouted over the
storm.

He barely heard his own words
over the whooshing windstorm. He heard her shout, the sound so faint in the
noise around him. He went with his instincts and swam hard towards where he guessed
she’d gone. White flashes struck the sky. Dark clouds thundered up above with
menace.

He swam some thirty feet before
he felt a lump at his knees. Ducking under the water, he opened his eyes and
found her drifting, eyes closed beneath the water. He screamed, swallowing a
gulp of water and rushed to the surface to take in a much needed breath of air before
diving down to snag her limp body about the waist.

Together, he took them to the
surface. His body worked harder than he ever had before by swimming against the
violent current of the storm and towards what he hoped was the shore. When the
water grew shallower around them, he could have cheered. With a final burst of
energy, he sprinted until he finally stood at the shore. He lifted her small
body into his arms and raced from the storm, his booted feet slipping in the
wet slop.

Still, the rain gushed over them,
drowning his vision, and making it hard to see. He found a canopy under some
trees and laid her under it. The trees barely managed to keep the vicious rain
at bay. He breathed into her mouth again and again.

“Abbigail! Wake up!” He pressed a
hand to her chest and felt the subtle rise and fall. She wasn’t dead. Relief
swamped him and he sagged over her, burying his face in her sweet-smelling
hair.

KEER POW!

Lightning struck too close to be
comfortable. The ground shuddered beneath him and heat seared him to the bone.
He didn’t hesitate another moment. With gentleness he didn’t know he had, he
cradled Abbigail in his arms and ran out of the storm, hoping it wouldn’t
follow.

Chapter Eight

Abbigail pushed herself up with a
groan. Her whole body felt stiff as if she’d had a vicious workout. The muscles
in her arms, back, and legs throbbed with a fiery burn. It took some effort but
she forced herself to stand. Her knees wobbled and she gasped as blood rushed
to her feet creating a burning pinprick sensation that poked her from the
inside out. Her hand shot out to steady herself but didn’t grasp onto anything.
She teetered to the right, and then straightened up by locking her knees to
stop from falling.

She then realized she wasn’t in
their little cave hideout beneath the beach. Not even close. She was in a building
of some kind. It looked similar to the temple she’d hidden in from Alrik, or at
least she was assuming it was temple of some kind since she wasn’t exactly adverse
in demonic architecture. Colored stones in dark greys and shiny black covered
the room’s walls and floor creating a medieval, yet beautiful look. A doorway paved
out of the same stone, stood at opposite stone wall. Bright light poured in. She
could see trees waving in the wind some distance away. She blinked against the
brightness as her eyes adjusted to the light.

Where was Alrik? What happened?
She thought back and fought to remember. She remembered the birds. Birds have
never scared her before, but those did. And then, the storm. That storm...

It was as if it was after them,
trying to kill him. She’d never felt anything so ominous before. The storm
seemed to have one goal in mind: to swipe them down into that lake and make
sure they didn’t return for air.

She didn’t want to think about
how powerful his mother must be if she could send a storm that powerful after
them, and he’d said she wasn’t even close to them. She could perform that kind
of magic from great distances?

 Abbigail shivered as dread filled
her. No way could she kill a person, even if she wanted to. No way she could go
up against someone
that
powerful and win. Hell, she was a medical examiner
not a combat-trained witch. Alrik showed greater magical powers than she did.
Right, but according to some seer, he couldn’t kill his own mother because of
the curse. Again, she wanted to know more about this curse. What kind of woman
would curse her own son and to what purpose? Just
why.

Abbigail walked out into the
light. The day was surprisingly cold. Wind blew making her shiver. Abby hugged
herself against the biting chill. Her clothes were dry now but she still wore
the jeans and t-shirt she’d changed into after the police came to her house.
She didn’t want to think about how long she’d been wearing these clothes. Nope,
she wasn’t going there.

She took in the scenery outside.
If the rift was one thing—beautiful was it. The landscape rolled up and down in
hills some ways in the distance. The ground was covered in vibrant green grass,
golden flowers, or maybe they were weeds to the demons, that were short or
sometimes as tall as her waist. Trees were taller here; trunks thicker and
older looking as if they’d never been cut down, never had to grow a new one. Everything
looked so similar to a forest she might have visited in a park before, but it
was the small details that made the difference.

Something made her pause her surveying,
some niggling feeling at the back of her head. Slowly, Abby turned then
stilled. Even her breath stopped.

Alrik sat on his knees, ankles
behind him with his back facing her. His shirt lay on the ground beside him.
His dark, black skin showed almost shining in the reflection of the light. His
back was a piece of art. If someone had asked her what the perfect man’s body
would look like, she would have fumbled for an answer before. Well, now she had
an answer. It’d look like Alrik.

Smooth sinew rose over strong
shoulders and down a tapered, thick waist. A strong enough waist she could wrap
her legs around, squeeze, and it wouldn’t break him. Her chest grew hot and breasts
pulled tight and heavy as she pictured doing just that.

His arms, which hung loosely in
his lap, were nothing to sniff at. Even relaxed, his shoulders rounded out hard
then cut in over solid triceps and bulking forearm muscles. He looked smooth
and completely hairless. His dark ebony skin was like looking into a sky
without any stars.

She’d taken a spinning class at
her local gym a few years back with her friend Jenna, not that Jenna needed the
workout, she practically had a six-pack from just walking which wasn’t fair.
But even at the gym she’d hadn’t seen a man like this. She’d seen strong men, men
who worked to get cut and hard, but nothing about Alrik’s body shouted “muscles
obtained by gym-membership.” He wasn’t bulky; he was thick, strong, and cut.
She flushed all over. Need gripped her and chose that moment to remind her how
long it’d been since she touched a man. She hadn’t been physically intimate
with anyone since college. Yeah, that would be two years ago now. Yikes.

“Are you done staring at me?”

Alrik’s deep voice jolted her.
Abby’s face burned red and she started to run back into the little stone house
but that’d be cowardly. Instead, she stood her ground, blush and all. However,
she still hoped he wouldn’t turn around and see that blush. What did it mean
that she found him so deliciously attractive? It couldn’t be good, not at all.
Every instinct she had told her as much.

“I just woke up.” Crap, that
didn’t answer his question. She searched for something else to say, but no
words came. She was at a loss all because of some bare skin. Bare,
strong
skin.

Alrik planted his hands on the
ground in front of him and then stood with a fluid motion. He turned to her,
his dark gaze instantly locking on hers. Her stomach did a little fluttery
flop. She swore if she’d met him under nearly any other circumstance she’d be
happy, maybe even flirty. She didn’t normally chase after men but in this case
he’d be worth it. If only circumstances were different.

He moved towards her and didn’t
stop. Abby’s mouth dried up at the sight of all that skin. A slow, heavy thump
started in heart. Each step he took her heart banged. An awareness came over
her.

His chest was just as delicious
as the backside, maybe more so. Smooth and hard. Would he be as soft to touch
as he looked? His chest had two defined pectorals that trailed down to rows of
ribbed, packed muscles that disappeared beneath his pants. For the second time,
something wild, strange, and raw crackled between them. A dark colored tattoo covered
his right side, but the paint was so dark against his skin she couldn’t tell
what it was.

Her gaze flew back to his and her
breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t have moved if she tried. A dark heat
glinted in his eyes. She had to see what he was going to do, and even though
she hoped he wouldn’t, a part of her wished like hell that he’d touch her. She
had to know what he’d do because what she felt she saw mirrored in his dark
eyes.

He stopped before her, his heat
warming her from the chill. They were so close to touching and yet so far. He
seemed completely unfazed by the chill in the air. His hands came up and cupped
her cheeks. A stuttering breath escaped her. Warmth permeated off his body. He
had such strong hands, the kind meant to cup and cradle a woman. Something
about the mixture of heat and hands brought a shiver between her legs. The look
in his eyes spoke of only one thing—hunger. Her body answered the hunger with a
growing need of her own centered deep within her body. Her skin tightened,
entire body poised waiting for him to kiss her.