bedeviled & beyond 06 - bedeviled & befouled (14 page)

Taking a bracing breath, I did the same to the chains holding his wrists. Dialle lifted his hands and turned them over, seemingly shocked into inaction by his freedom. It didn’t last long. His gaze slid upward, found mine, and his lips curved in a smile.

Something slid into place in my chest. I was in battle mode. Lifting my hands I wiggled my fingers. “Let’s rumble, devil.”

With a roar he lunged.

I waited until he was almost on me and leapt, flying over his head and rolling as I landed. I spun around as soon as my feet hit the floor, throwing my hands out to grab hold of his throat as he hit me. He grabbed my leather jacket and, rather than throw me to the ground, he jerked me closer as my hands tightened on his throat.

I hit his chest hard and the unexpected move loosened my grip. I thrust my hands upward, connecting with his jaw and snapping his head backward. He hooked a leg around my knees and shoved me to the ground, I hit the rock floor hard enough to knock the wind out of my lungs and he landed on top of me. I didn’t give him time to trap me. I eyed the spot behind him and entered a space-shift, coming back to awareness in another part of the room. Dialle had anticipated my shift and was already charging me as I started to move. He ran at me with a roar and, as I flexed to leave the floor, leapt into the air and smacked into me.

He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and I was suddenly locked into nothingness again. When the world returned I was falling. I landed on the dusty mattress and Dialle landed on top of me, jerking my arms over my head as we hit.

He held me as I struggled, his face inches from mine. His angry eyes roiled with color and his mouth twisted in a hateful smile. “Delicious. Keep struggling, Astra. I’m really enjoying it.”

He wasn’t kidding. I could feel the rock-hard evidence of his enjoyment against my belly.

I tried to knee him but he was too close for me to get anything behind it. With a frustrated scream, I thrashed against his grip, unable to use my powers. I knew he was capable of locking me off from them with a simple touch. I’d been the unfortunate recipient of that little trick from the royals more than once.

He lowered his head and sniffed my throat as he ground against me with his rigid shaft. “Mmm. I’ve forgotten how delicious you smell, my love.”

I grimaced. “I wish I could say the same of you, Dialle. Maybe we could pause this activity for a few minutes so you can take a bath.”

His laugh was husky, and slightly mad. “I doubt a bath will make what I’m about to do any more palatable to you, my love.”

“Whatever you have in mind, I want to go on record as saying that I don’t support it. In fact I’m pretty sure you’re going to piss me off if you go through with it.”

“I’ll be sure and chastise myself later. After.”

I struggled harder but made no headway at all. I finally gave up when I realized I was just making it more fun for him. “Dialle. I know you’re in there somewhere. Come back to me.” To my great horror tears slipped down my cheeks.

The stranger pressing me to the mattress simply smiled as my heart broke. “Oh, how tender. I’m sure your Dialle would have collapsed into a horrified pile of pussy-whipped goo if he saw those tears. Unfortunately, he no longer exists.” Dialle lowered his head again and sucked my neck, hard enough to leave a mark.

Horror swamped me as I wondered if Dialle could mark me again. I shuddered. Being tied to the madman pressing me to the floor was too terrible to contemplate.

Then I had worse problems to think about. The rough scrape of teeth made my blood run cold as I realized what Dialle had in mind.

I renewed my struggles. “No, Dialle. You can’t do this.”

He lifted his head. My blood went cold. His lips were open, showing a beautiful and deadly pair of elongated fangs.

I shook my head, trying to jerk my hands free and tried again to access my power. Nothing happened.

He laughed. “You smell delicious, my love. Let’s see how you taste.” I screamed as he lowered his head. Knifelike agony speared my throat as the massive fangs pierced my skin and my scream took on a desperate tone as he began to feed.

I fought as long and as hard as I could, but I soon lost the strength to go on as he drained me of life-giving blood. At some point he no longer needed to hold me down. Darkness teased the edges of my vision and my limbs felt heavy and cold.

In that moment I knew Emo had been right. I wouldn’t survive my attempt to save Dialle. The thought depressed me beyond measure. Because I knew my death would hurt those I loved. For that I was sorry.

But despite the outcome, I wasn’t sorry to have risked it all for Dialle. Wherever he had gone...whatever he’d become...I realized in that moment that I still loved him.

Darkness called to me, I fought it back and managed to lift my hand, touching Dialle’s cheek. He felt warm and vibrant against my cold fingers. He jerked as I touched him, and flew backward.

“I love you, Dialle.” My lips moved but I knew he probably hadn’t heard me. The words were like puffs of wind against my lips.

The last thing I heard as I settled into death’s dark, cold arms was Dialle, screaming my name into a cold prison of his own making.

CHAPTER TEN

Back to the Dance

It’s true young miss had faded ‘way, death’s door had opened wide,

But if her life would on him weigh, her death he cannot abide.

Heat. Tingling against my skin like electricity. Healing heat that pulsed in my breast, drawing me slowly back to consciousness. With the heat came awareness, and the ability to feel my slowly warming limbs again.

Hard hands skimmed my body, sending strobes of magic deep beneath my skin.

I twitched under the uncomfortable tingling, my fingers clenching as the feeling of being stuck repeatedly with pins spread through my hands and lower legs.

I tried to force my eyelids open. They refused to cooperate, but the hands lifted away, along with the healing energy.

I pushed myself upright, groaning with pain and an overwhelming weakness. Dizziness swamped me and nausea bloomed in my gut. I swallowed hard, jamming a hand in the mattress to hold myself upright. I took a deep breath, willing my stomach to settle and the dizziness to retreat. A moment later I risked opening my eyes. It took a moment for me to remember where I was and how I’d gotten there.

The room was stark, cold, and appeared as if a tornado had gone through it. The stone walls wept with moisture, their surface scarred with claw marks. The floor around the mattress was covered in stuffing and debris. I looked down and saw there wasn’t much left of the mattress I was lying on. Someone had ripped it to shreds around me.

The room’s single door was battered, deeply scored, and stained with blood. The blood made my heart twist and my gaze flew toward the shadowed corners.

He was standing in the farthest corner from me, his dark head bowed and his hands clenched at his sides.

“Dialle?”

“Leave me, Astra. It’s not safe for you here.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

His head lifted slowly. Two glistening trails silvered his golden cheeks. Tears. “I don’t think you understand. The Dialle you knew and loved is gone. What’s left is dangerous to you and everybody else, Astra. Just leave me here and let me die. It would be best for everyone.”

I pushed myself off the mattress and stood, brutally shoving the dizziness back as I took a step toward him. “That’s just so frunkin’ stupid, Dialle. Obviously you’re not gone. If your dark side had completely taken over you wouldn’t be wanting to die.” I stopped a foot away from him and watched as he seemed to suck in on himself, his muscles tightening under a desperate bid for control. He shook his head.

“I almost killed you.” His voice broke and it took my heart with it.

I closed the last few inches between us. “But you didn’t. You stopped. And you healed me. You’re still in there, Dialle. Let me pull you back. Let me offer you my light.”

He sniffed, shaking his head again. His hand came out to clasp my shoulder as I moved closer, holding me back. “Please, Astra. I’m begging you. Leave now, before it comes back.”

I shrugged off his hand, stepping into him and wrapping my arms around his waist. I lay my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes, feeling him vibrate against me. “I’m not leaving. You need to let the dark go, Dialle. Embrace your light side. If you don’t, I’m going to die and you’ll have to live with having killed us both.”

I rubbed soothing circles over his skin, skimming my fingers up the satin width of his back.

Still he held himself rigid, his fists clenched, but his heart beat strongly against my chest, his breathing had quickened.

I held on tightly, willing him to succumb to my love, until his muscles lost some of their rigidity and his head dropped to rest against mine. He expelled a shaky breath and his hands finally lifted, wrapping around my arms. “Astra...” He held me with a desperate kind of strength. I bit my lip and tried to ignore the pain.

“Shhh. Just hold me. We’ll take this a step at a time.”

His arms slipped around me and his knees seemed to give out. We sagged slowly toward the ground. I held onto him as we dropped, keeping him from landing too hard.

We sat on the filthy floor, leaning against the wall. Dialle’s arms were still around my waist and his head drooped. He panted softly, obviously beyond exhaustion. “I’m so tired.”

I kissed his forehead. “Sleep. I won’t let go.”

Another shuddering breath had him closing his eyes, leaning his head against the wall. “I’ll just rest for a few minutes. Don’t let me sleep, Astra. I dream horrible things when I sleep.”

“Okay. I’ll smack you awake after five minutes.”

He laughed and my stomach twisted at the rustiness of the sound. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen his slow, sexy smile.

His breathing deepened and he fell sideways, leaning heavily against my shoulder. His head dropped to rest on mine and his soft breath feathered over me. I rubbed my hand over his knee, determined to keep him calm while he slept. After only moments, my eyes drooped closed too. I thought I’d just rest them a few minutes. But Dialle’s healing had really taken it out of me and I soon drifted off too.

~SC~

My sleep was filled with violent images, interspersed with sensual episodes that stood out like a fire demon on a snow-covered landscape. Pain and blood gave way to heated lips trailing down my throat, or the feel of a hard shaft pressing against my skin.

I tossed and turned, my mind twisting under the burden of what Dialle and I had done...what we had left to do.

Fractured light flashed across my inner vision, spearing me with knifelike agony. My body alternately heated and cooled, blossomed and cringed, and, when sleep was no longer tenable, I clawed my way out of it. I awoke more tired than when I’d fallen asleep. The cold, moist air caressed my heated skin and something firm framed my back. I struggled to remember where I was...how I’d gotten there.

Slowly the episode with Dialle returned to me and my heart twisted with pain. How were we going to recover from the horror of what we’d both done?

Soft breath bathed my cheek, sweet with the scent of the man I craved. I opened my eyes, blinking hard in the bright light coming from the single, small window high above our heads.

I realized we were lying on the torn mattress. When had we moved? I didn’t remember. I shifted on the mattress and Dialle’s arm tightened around me like a vise. He pulled me closer, his shaft pressing urgently against my naked flesh.

We were both naked. I didn’t remember how that had happened either.

But I wasn’t all that upset about it. My sexual core tightened with need. My skin came alive under his touch, every nerve ending expanding to enjoy the friction of his skin against mine. His arm shifted slightly and a large, hot hand encompassed one breast.

My channel throbbed in response.

I swallowed hard, wondering how one went from nearly killing each other to making love in the space of a few hours.

As Dialle rolled his hips and pressed himself against me, I realized I was about to find out. “Dialle—”

“Shhh.” His hand caressed my breast, the lightly calloused fingers tweaking my nipple. “I need you, Astra. Let me make love to you.”

I gasped as his other hand skimmed blazing heat over my hip, slipping between my thighs. Whatever my mind decided about his request, my body had already succumbed. Eagerly.

I opened my thighs to give him room to play and pressed back against his delicious hardness. I reached back, clasping a warm buttock and pulling him close in silent acquiescence.

He pressed his shaft against my entrance, finding me wet and ready, and slipped inside on a sigh.

My world blossomed, embracing the beauty of his flesh claiming mine. He began to move and sensation flashed outward from the places he touched me, spreading in a bright wave through my body.

He took me gently, carefully, as if trying to make up for what had happened the night before. I knew his mind wasn’t healed. I could feel every fracture in the depths of my soul, but I could let him give me this tender coupling and, with it, we could begin the process of healing each other.

Pleasure pulsed in a delicious glow in my limbs, squeezing a fist of need in my gut. His hands skimmed gently over my skin, setting the nerve endings on fire wherever he touched. His lips branded my back and nape with fire, making me shiver with delight.

Inside my body, his rigid shaft created delicious friction with every slow, tender stroke. My pleasure climbed higher with every thrust, stoking the fire of my need. Release found me in a quick, surprising wash.

I cried out as the coil of need loosened in a flash fire of bliss, softening my limbs and making my sensual core tighten under a toe-curling wave of delight. My body milked Dialle’s shaft, urging him to follow me over into release, and he succumbed with a husky cry, plunging deep. His arms tightened almost painfully around me as he came, his muscles turned to stone against my pleasantly limp body.

Heat pulsed deep within me, accompanied by the violent jerking of his flesh. The joy of having him inside my body again was almost frightening in its intensity. I knew we had rocky times ahead of us. But at least we’d taken the first step toward healing.