The Fallen King: The Bellum Sisters 4 (paranormal erotic romance) (9 page)

He looked to her hand with a
puzzled express then slapped it away. “Don’t try to cast magic on me again,
witch, or you’ll regret it severely.”

Her hands curled into hard fists
at her side. “You are such an ass. I wanted a high-five. I wasn’t trying to
cast any damn magic on you.” He didn’t look swayed in the least. She held out a
hand to the toppled branch. “Uh, hello, I just used my magic and made that
branch fall over. I call that a good job”

He didn’t say anything, but went
back to the tree branch. “Then do it again,” he said propping the branch back
up against the tree.

The demon had to be the most
insufferable man she’d ever met. What she wouldn’t give to slap him good and
hard across the face just once. She started to focus on the branch again, then
paused.

“No, you answer one of my
questions and then I’ll do it. I’m not going to get nothing outta this deal.”
She didn’t state that fact that she wanted to grow her magical powers so she
could port home. Some things a girl had to keep to herself.

He growled—an actual growl that
sounded too bestial to come from a person’s mouth. “You are the most
frustrating woman I’ve ever met. If we were in my kingdom I’d have you sent to
the dungeons.”

“Oooh,” she taunted in a
high-pitched voice.

His dark eyes narrowed on her.
“Be cautious, witch. My patience is at an end.”

“Yeah, well, so is mine. What
will it hurt to give me some information? It’s not like—” she stopped herself
short. Shit, she’d nearly said “it’s not like you’re not planning to kill me
anyway.”

“It’s not like what?” he asked.

She shook her head and focused on
the branch again. Anything to distract him. It took longer this time, sweat
fell from her brow, but she knocked the branch over. It landed softly on the
grass

“Good,” he said righting the
branch, “but not good enough. You should be able to make it fly through the air
at great speed and power.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do,”
she said between clenched teeth.

“Then focus harder. You aren’t
doing it right.”

That’s it; she either strangled
him or exploded. She chose the latter. “Whatever! I’m done with this. You knock
the fucking branch over.”

She turned on her heel and
marched for the beach. She needed a damn bath and the thought of that only
pissed her off more. She had no soap, no shampoo, not even a dang toothbrush. Oh
and no change of clothes either. Yeah, this was going to be a great little
vacation.

“Abbigail,” he called in a
warning voice.

She laughed and didn’t stop or
turn around. “Oh, now he uses my name. No, I don’t think so,
demon
. I’m
done for the day. You hear me, d-o-n-e, done.”

God, she’d never been quick to
anger. She’d always been a slow boiler but boy did her temper roar at a boil
right now. She swore if he so much as laid a hand on her to try to drag her
back up to that stupid tree branch she’d scratch his eyes out. Heavy footsteps
followed her but she ground her jaw and pretended to ignore it. She broke
through the trees and came upon the dark blue lake near their little cove in
the water. The water lapped softly at the sandy edge.

“You are not done working, Abbigail.”
He sounded pained to say her name as if he couldn’t say it without yelling it.
“Get back up there or I swear I’ll--”

Oooh!

She spun around and let all the
frustration and anger that had been building throughout the long day fly from
her mouth. “Or you’ll what? Magically force me to cast a damn spell? Sorry, but
I don’t think even you can do something so ridiculous. I think I did good
today. I started not even able to make the stupid little branch move a hair.
Now I’ve made it fall over twice, and you know what? I’m wiped. Totally
freaking wiped. I’m hot and sweaty, my skin feels sticky, and all I want to do
is wipe the dirt and grime off me. And nothing you can do, I mean
nothing
,
will stop me from doing just that, you got me?”

To prove her point she grabbed
the hem of her shirt and whipped it over her head. It had to be the emotions
riding her that made her wad the shirt into a ball and throw it at him. It
didn’t come near hitting him but he didn’t seem to care. His eyes were locked on
her chest. She had a moment of panic before anger overtook that too.

She propped her hands on her
hips. Maybe she wouldn’t have been so cocky if she didn’t have a bra on, but
right now she felt like she could command an army. “Are you gonna stand there and
watch me bathe too?”

Something changed in the air.
Energy crackled. His eyes turned hungry. That’s the only way she could describe
it. His gaze darkened, eyes smoldered and devoured her body as if seeing her as
anything other than “the witch” for the first time. He had the look of a man
that wanted to eat her up. She could almost feel his gaze caressing her
breasts. Her breasts pulled tight at the predatory look—the look of assessing a
female.

Her breath caught. “Alrik?” she
said hesitantly. Something about his stiff stance, the way his eyes glowed
brighter, made him look as if he was fighting some inner war with himself.

His eyes flicked up to hers. His
voice sounded thick, heavy, and slow. “Yes.”

Breathing became difficult, as if
all the oxygen around them had disappeared. “Yes what?”

He blinked. “Yes, I’ll watch.”

She swallowed over the knot in
her throat. Oh.

Abbigail had never purposely
taunted a man for any reason. Even with her previous boyfriends and other
short-lived flings during college, she’d never teased a man on purpose. She’d
never had any reason to. Yet, she wanted to with him. Partly because he pissed
her off, she wanted to unsettle him and watch him suffer. Another part, a much
bigger part that she didn’t quite understand, wanted to see if she affected
him, and to see if her body could sway the tall dark demon whom she couldn’t
help but find physically appealing. A feminine charge spiked through her blood
making her flushed, her movements slow.

She reached behind her back and
unsnapped her bra. The white material floated to the ground. Their eyes locked
together in a fiery battle and then she tugged down her jeans.

She heard his deep growl as she
shoved her underwear down her legs.

*
* *

Alrik couldn’t move. He was
rooted in place not by a spell but by a human woman. Abbigail. Surely, life
couldn’t be so cruel as to send a woman like her to him. She was seductively
formed, small waisted with hips made for a man to hold on to while he thrust
inside of her, and breasts that made his palms itch to hold.

She turned her back to him and
waded into the water like a brave enchantress. The sight of her shapely
backside and the sexy dip of her lower back nearly sent him after her. Her legs
were strong, with just enough muscle that they rippled as she stepped into the
lapping water.

Was she testing him? Trying to
taunt him with something he couldn’t have or wouldn’t take?

Wait. He’d take it. Yes, he’d
take it and so much more if she offered her young lithe body to him. After all
the horrible deeds he’d committed in the past, using her body would hardly fare
against them. He’d taken several steps towards her retreating back before he
stopped himself.

No, he couldn’t touch her. They
both needed to stay focused. He’d had and lost his love.

He could not turn so easily to
another woman with Arianna’s death still lingering on his hands.

But it’s been a year
since
she
died
,
a voice in his head taunted.

Abbigail ducked into the water
and came up with a splash that glistened from her hair and bare shoulders. His
mouth watered at the sight of naked skin, and his cock throbbed and hardened to
a painful point.

Breathing hard, he stepp
ed away from her, away from the temptation. She wouldn’t
welcome him. He could make her but the thought of that didn’t sit well in his
gut. If he touched her, something terrible might happen—he might begin to care.
No, he couldn’t risk it. He couldn’t risk gaining any feelings towards her lest
he be unable to go through with his plans. He needed her to die to save him. He
finally had a chance to become the man he’d once been and he wouldn’t lose that
chance no matter what.

He’d already lost one woman he
cared about, he wouldn’t put himself in the same situation twice. No matter how
the light glinted off her body. She cupped handfuls of water and scrubbed her
face. She turned just enough so that he caught a glimpse of the side of her
breast. He groaned low in his throat. He ached to know how she’d feel in his
hand—heavy and full or light and firm? His cock became a heavy, throbbing mass.

He couldn’t do this. Not for him
and not for Arianna.

Alrik made one of the hardest
decisions of his life then and turned around. Back at the camp, he sat next to
the fire. Air filled his head making him feel light and dizzy.

The human Abbigail was proving to
be trouble. How could he ever look at her again and not see her naked in his
eyes? He must harden his mind to her and hurry her spell casting lessons. The
sooner she became strong enough to defeat his mother, the quicker he could be
rid of her and live some semblance of his old life. He craved that relationship
with his brother that they’d once had. Now that his mother’s cursed potions
weren’t in his body and overriding his thoughts, he felt for the first time in
a long time some of his own emotions. Not everything had come back with the curse
still overriding him, but now he could feel something. These feelings seemed
foreign to him, like someone else’s emotions, but they were his. And what he
wanted more than anything was to be back at his brother’s side. He’d do
anything to have that, even if that meant using and sacrificing Abbigail in the
process.

A far off cry caught his ears.
Alrik turned his head to the sky and his body tensed. Far off in the distance,
coming from the south at a quick pace flew a flock of birds. Not just any birds
but
kolans
, a large black bird known for eating anything found dead
along the way. That wasn’t what sent Alrik to his feet and running down the
path to Abbigail.

A dark foggy cloud surrounded the
black-winged creatures and in th
at fog flew evil. The
birds moved at incredible speed and as they neared a roar became louder and
louder. The sounds reminded him of battle, where men yelled and screamed only
the sounds of the birds was much higher.

“Abbigail!” Alrik roared.

She came up from the water and
hearing the bird’s cries, turned to see the dark mass charging at them from
high in the sky. She turned quickly and started for him. Smart witch. He
thanked the seer once again that his savior was a smart witch.

She met him at the beach just as
he reached it. Without hesitating, he grabbed her clothes in one arm then
latched onto her hand with the other. He dragged her to the rocky slope that
led down to their hidden cove.

The roar became deafening. He
didn’t know what magic was at play, but he had an idea and it wasn’t good. The
bright sky darkened to a murky grey. He had a moment’s hesitation that he
hadn’t put out the fire at the camp, but as he looked up at the sky with the
dark birds nearly upon them he knew he was out of time.

Swirling black masses formed
around the birds. The trees shook and whipped with fierce winds. The bird’s beady
eyes narrowed on them, their yellow, beaked mouths open. More cries screeched
through the air.

Alrik pulled Abbigail to the
bottom of the slope just as the birds ducked low and flew over them. Adrenaline
rushed through his blood making him faster and stronger.

Turning quickly, he snatched
Abbigail into his arms and pushed her into the rocks to shield her. Sharp bites
pecked at his body. Blood beaded on his neck and back where their bites tore
through his clothes and skin. A crack of thunder sounded overhead. A bright bolt
of lightning flashed in the forest.

“What’s going on?” Abbigail
asked. She sounded scared and unsure but he had no time to explain right now.

“In the cave,” he shouted over
the deafening roar. She nodded and then they both ducked down into the cold
water and swam under the slope. They reemerged in the hollowed out cave and
ducked into the dark cave. He didn’t stop moving until he had her safe behind
him at the very end of the tunnel.

“What are those birds? Where did
they come from?”

Alrik ignored her. He focused his
attention on the sounds coming from above them. The birds shrilled endlessly as
thunder boomed again. A loud crack of lightning tore through the sky and then
rain rushed down in a fierce torrential downpour. The water seeped through the
earth and sprinkled over them.

“Alrik?”

The sounds of the bird’s angry
wings flapping and their cries slowly faded as they soared past.

“They’re moving away.” Still, the
thunder boomed and roared up above. Trickles of rainwater spilled down the
cavern walls in rivulets moving faster. His eyes narrowed on it and then the
entrance of the cave. He started for it to investigate when a hand on his arm
stopped him.