The Fallen King: The Bellum Sisters 4 (paranormal erotic romance) (13 page)

Alrik was already up and moving
around when she got up but she figured he hadn’t been up long. The strange
light in the sky, not a sun but a bright enough light that looked as if it always
had a hazy fog covering it, just broke into the sky.

Abby stretched the sore muscles
in her body. She was getting more of a workout with all the hiking than she’d
had in a long time. She could already feel her stomach slimming some. Normally
she might be happy that she’d slimmed down, but in this case it made her jeans
bag on her and without any replacement clothes it just served to remind her how
much she needed to be home.

Alrik set a packet of cooked,
dried meat on the ground then announced, “I’ll be back.”

A flicker of panic instantly
swept through her. He was leaving her? He’d never said any such thing before.
When he started walking into the woods, underneath a high-rise cliff on their
left, she hollered out to him.

“Where are you going?”

He kept walking for a few steps
then seemed to debate with himself before he stopped and turned back. Her
breath squeezed tight in her throat, her entire body caught fire just having
him look at her. All because of that kiss. She swore his masculine, sexy taste
still filled her mouth. It surprised her, but if he came to her right now and
took her mouth she’d gladly give in.

Not once in her whole life had
she ever been kissed like
that
. It was as if kissing her had been the
most pleasurable act in his life, as if he couldn’t get enough, and as if it
took every ounce of willpower in his entire body not take her body. And she’d
felt the same. She hadn’t wanted it to ended, not even for a second.

A shiver quivered down her spine.
Her breasts pulled tight and her nipples hardened. She gulped but hoped, and
didn’t hope, that he would notice.

His dark eyes caught hers and she
swore—
he knew
. He knew every sensual thought she just had because he’d
had it too.

“I’m going to the lake to bathe.”
He voice sounded even deeper than normal.

Her eyebrows flew up.

As if sensing where her thoughts
were leading her he jabbed a finger in her direction. “You will not follow me,
Abbigail. You will stay here and eat until I return. If anything seems amiss,
cry out and I’ll be here.”

Abby looked around in dismay. A
stream of cool water trickled down over the rocky cliff above and flowed down
southwards, bubbling over rocks and crags. He told her it all poured out into
the
Drego
lake, but a thick expanse of forest kept it from view.

This forest looked different from
the ones she’d seen before. There were many bushes and shrubs colored dark
yellow like mustard, bright yellow like a cheery tulip, and a beautiful dark
cherry red. Some were as tall as her waist and others even taller than she was.
They fit amidst the thick trunked trees creating a beautiful, earthy
juxtaposition. Their leaves were heart shaped but elongated and thinner with the
ends coming to a point. They brought a smile to Abby’s face with their earthly
beauty.

Alrik followed her gaze and he
scowled. “And do not touch anything. Some of these plants are dangerous to the
touch.”

Abby’s smile died. The forest
just went from a pretty little garden she might explore to something dangerous.
She took in the beautiful shrubbery one last time. Looks like she wouldn’t be
going in there without her little guide after all. Sighing, she took a seat on
a rock that had a smooth flat surface.

“Fine, I’ll wait here.” She
popped her chin up on her fist and gave him her bored expression. She was
trying to play it bored, but truth be told she didn’t like the idea of being
here alone. The crazy demon was all she had in this strange world, and she
needed him as much as he did her.

Alrik turned and followed along
the cliff before disappearing around the bend.

Abby fidgeted then moved to sit
Indian style. When that didn’t bring any comfort, she kicked her legs out in
front of her and crossed her ankles. Time seemed to slow after he left. She was
never one to idle, always preferred to keep moving.

The peaceful quiet of the woods
didn’t help that any. The wind blew by rustling the leaves of the trees
creating its own form of music. She sighed with disgust. This was no good.
Sitting alone
left to her thoughts to fill the silence.

She probably lost her job. If she
made it out of this ordeal then she might be able to explain to Stan and get
her job back. He was a good teacher but harsh. He’d probably make her redo her
entire internship and that’d leave her back at square one working towards her
supernatural medical examiner’s certificate. God, she wanted it so badly she
could almost taste it.

She wanted that laminated badge
with her picture and name on it. The one stamped ME on it by the state. Not her
intern’s badge. She wanted to finish her autopsy training and be in there with
the victims, finding cause of death, and helping detectives like Mike to find
murderers. She wanted to be someone who helped to make things a little better
in the world. She didn’t want to stand by as bad things happened. She could do
something to help and she wanted it so bad she could taste it.

With a grunt, Abby fell back
against the slab of rock and stared up at the strange sky. Out of all the
doubts she’d ever entertained about her job, she never once figured she might
get her dream job because a sexy demon would kidnap her. Yup, can’t say that
ever crossed the mind, she thought.

Maybe not being smart enough for
the job or not being able to stomach what she saw—those were legitimate fears
she’d had. The thought of a cursed psycho storming into her house and
kidnapping her into a dimension filled with different kinds of demons never entered
her mind. Not even once.

What that meant for her was
almost too scary to think about. Could she really be that powerful? If the
queen was as powerful as he said, and if she sent those birds with the
deadliest storm ever after them, then she must be. That meant she might be more
powerful than the queen and the thought terrified her. What if when she
finished harnessing her power to get out of the rift it went to her head? What
if it corrupted her or changed her? She didn’t want to change. She was
perfectly happy how she was.

Okay, maybe that’s not entirely
true. She’d been stuck in a rut, bored when not working, and living without
really living life. Her daily routine had consisted of getting in her
internship hours and staying at home. Ever since she’d been out of college her
relationship with her best friend Jenna had even started to deteriorate. If
anything, they should be spending even more time together what with all the
free time Abby had.

Well, she was certainly living
life now just not in the way she’d ever thought possible. Now she was in a
strange world with a strange man. No, a demon, she corrected. Alrik was no man.
He was too powerful, too mysterious, too sensual, too dangerous...too
everything
to be a man.

And, he kissed her like she had always
wanted to be kissed. Heck, like any woman would want to be kissed at least once
in their lifetime. Like she’d been his air. Once his lips touched hers, something
zapped between them, something too powerful to be contained. Her stomach
fluttered and she ran her hand over it to settle it. Her lips felt suddenly dry
and she darted her tongue out to wet them. She wanted that again. She wanted it
so badly it was a physical need telling her to go after him and make him kiss
her like that again. She wanted to see what else he was capable of, and discover
what other passions existed between them.

A twig snapped nearby. Abby
jumped up, her gaze searching in the direction of the cliff where Alrik had
disappeared behind. She held her breath as her heart thumped in her chest. She
despised the jumpy feeling she got every time Alrik left her. Her instincts
were on full alert, preparing her body for fight or flight mode. She recognized
it which only made her eyes widen further to see what had made that noise.

The sound of leaves rustling came
and then Alrik stepped around the bend of the cliff. Her breath wheezed out of
her in a long rush, and she collapsed on the rock as her muscles relaxed.

“What’s wrong?” he asked his
voice curt.

Abby sighed and pushed herself
back up. When she looked at him her breath caught in her throat. He was
shirtless, again, and very wet. His hair was slicked back over a set of broad,
hard shoulders. Water dripped down his chest and dampened the top of his pants.
He must have just done a quick wash and pulled his pants on. Saliva pooled on
her tongue.

“Abbigail?”

Her gaze met his eyes which were
dark again. Well, they were always dark, but they had fire to them now as they
did after he’d kissed her. Breathing suddenly became a difficult task as her
chest squeezed tight.

“You startled me, that’s all.”

“Pull your gaze away, Abbigail.”
It was a command. God, his voice sounded so deep and husky.

Easier said than done though she
didn’t say so. She couldn’t help but be fascinated with the hard play of
muscles on his chest. They looked soft to the touch yet hard at the same time.
She found herself wanting to run her fingers over his stomach and find out which
it was.

“What are you doing?”

The edge in his voice brought her
gaze up to his again. His eyes were wide, his body language tense. It was then
she realized she’d gotten up and started walking to him. She stood only a few
feet away and had no recollection of moving.

She swallowed and looked back at
the rock she’d just been sitting on then down to the ground where she stood. His
question left her fumbling. How did she explain that she’d wanted to touch him
so badly that she’d just marched right on over to him without even realizing
she was doing it? That couldn’t be explained without horrible implications on
her part. So,
she said something else.

“I like your chest.”

Oh my god!
her mind screamed.
What the
hell did I just say?
A hot blush crept over her cheeks. “I mean…” her eyes
followed a droplet of water sitting in the hollow shell at his collarbone. He
moved a little and the drop went running down his chest and over one hard,
defined pectoral muscle. Between her legs, she grew tight and hot.

Alrik eyed her warily then pulled
his wet shirt on over his head. The shirt clung to him in ways that fascinated
her. It fit along his arms like a second skin, showing to perfection his cut
biceps. What a shame, though, to cover such beauty.

“Perhaps you are tired. Did you
eat?”

“No, no I didn’t.” She’d been too
lost in her thoughts.

He shook his head at her and
grabbed the food off the ground, shoving it in her hand. “You’ll eat as we
walk. We have to get moving while it’s still light out.”

“Why is your shirt wet?” She
couldn’t help but ask. The wet shirt clinging to him bugged her. He’d come back
without it on, yet it was wet. As his dark eyes narrowed on her, she knew she
must be steadily making a fool out of herself.

He grabbed his supplies and
sheathed his swords over his back. “I washed it.”

“Oh.” Of course he did. The idea
of him soaping his own clothes in a cold lake made her smile. He cut a look to
her catching it.

“What?” He sounded defensive.

Her lips twitched. “I didn’t know
you could do laundry. Bet you miss your slaves for that.”

His gaze dimmed and she knew
she’d said something he didn’t like. “Slaves didn’t do my laundry but servants
did. Let’s move.”

Abby couldn’t hide her frown.
She’d meant it as a joke but obviously she’d messed up and insulted him. Great,
just what she needed. She didn’t know whether to apologize or let it be so she
chose the latter.

On their hike through the dense
forest, Abby took in her surroundings and nibbled at her cold dried meat. The
meat reminded her of beef jerky, one of her favorite snack foods. The
futhorc
meat wasn’t quite that tasty though. It had a chewy texture and it was cold
which made it hard to bite into and even harder to swallow. She swore if she
ever got back to her normal life she’d appreciate life so much more, even
little things like beef jerky.

“What’s up with the bushes?” she
asked.

He grunted. “What of them?”

She nodded at a yellow bush. “You
said not to go near them. Why?”

He shrugged, jostling the swords
on his back. She liked walking a few paces behind him because he walked so much
faster than she did which gave her the opportunity to take time to admire his
body without him knowing it. It was sneaky but worth it. The man had a backside
just begging to be nibbled.

He sounded frustrated at having
to answer her. “
Gringum
the plant with the bright yellow leaves is
contagious. One touch will leave you with a rash that brings fever and
rupturing boils.
Gargum
the dark yellow bush causes hallucinations if inhaled,
and
gumrosh
, the red bush, is most lethal of all. If eaten, you’ll die
from its poison.”