chapter 14
They were back where they’d started, at his cabin in the woods. The faint rays of sunlight were beginning to filter through the trees. Mila stretched out her arms, tipping her face toward the light.
Early morning and dusk she had no problem with. During the heat of the day her skin started to feel uncomfortable on her body, but she wasn’t frying to a crisp. Yet another adaptation her hybrid status had given her that made her almost happy to be who she was.
Frenzy’s scent of clover and moss surrounded her, seconds before his arms wrapped around her waist. “What are you thinking?”
Inhaling deeply, she turned in his arms, framing the handsome face of the man who’d come to mean so much to her in such a short time. “What if I can’t defeat the shadow? What if she’s fooled me again and I…lose you?” The last was barely a whisper.
Brushing his knuckles along her cheekbones, he bent and lightly took her lips into his. Her body responded as it always did. Heat and fire traveled through her veins, lighting her up and making her ache.
She always wanted Frenzy. Would always want him. He released her with a sigh.
“She can’t break her vow; Lise sealed it. To break the vow would mean her death. The queen is not so stupid. She will do as she said.” With a flick of his wrist the black box the queen had given her yesterday morning materialized from out of nowhere.
Tracing her finger along the smooth, cold surface, she shook her head. “Is it really possible that a stupid black box can take the shadow down?”
Grabbing her fingers, he brought them to his lips, placing one kiss along each pad before smiling. “This will work.”
He sounded so sure, but she wasn’t. Not about this, not about anything. Because her life had never been this easy. She just wished she could see more, know more. The nerves were threatening to eat her alive.
“Come on.” He pulled her toward the cabin, walking to each corner of it and laying his hand upon a particular piece of wood that’d been smoothed out over the years. Lifting the repelling ward, he walked her to the door and opened it.
She was silent, allowing him to meekly guide her in, trying to take as much strength from him as she could.
Lise had made it pretty clear that it would be she and she alone who had to fight the shadow. Problem was she didn’t have the first clue how to do it. Holding up the box and saying Get inside if you please seemed rather asinine. And there would be no fighting it. The power rolling off the creature was immense.
“Sweetheart”—his voice shot like sun-warmed honey through her body, made her shiver—“look at me.”
It was the first time he’d ever referenced her in such a way. Nibbling on the corner of her lip, she turned her eyes to his. They were such beautiful eyes. Mercurial silver with flecks of stardust swirling throughout. Heartbeat stuttering in her chest, she stood still as he placed his large hand against the nape of her neck, gently guiding her mouth toward his.
“We can do this. I really believe that.”
“Why did you call me your sweetheart?” She hadn’t meant to ask it, but the moment the words escaped her she realized she desperately wanted to know the answer. What were they doing? She’d all but bartered his freedom away, tied him to her forever, without even asking his permission first.
In hindsight it seemed stupid. Why had she done it? What if he resented her for it over time? They’d made no vows to each other; he’d never told her anything to make her think that he’d appreciate the idea of remaining with her eternally. And she could not deny that the specter of Adrianna worried her. Was he still pining for a woman so far in the past Mila never had a chance at overcoming?
But when she thought of her life without him by her side, it was dark and empty and pointless. She couldn’t be a George, she wasn’t built that way. She’d had enough of it as a mortal. She needed a lover, a friend, a confidant. She needed Frenzy.
His smile was perfect. Everything about him was so perfect it made her stomach ache, her heart hurt. The possibility of eeking out an eternal existence without him made her want to do horrible, violent things. Made the darkness crave violence, to herself, others…it was wrong to hang her happiness on another this way, but being with Frenzy felt…vital.
“Don’t you understand, little shrew?” His words feathered across her lips, the air between them was charged, frenetic. It popped and crackled and made her body hum with need and anticipation.
The world was falling down around them, but all she could see, all she wanted, was him.
“Before you, I was surviving. You asked me once when was the last time I’d laughed, loved…” His hands trailed warm down the sides of her body, leaving heat in its wake; silver eyes held her thralled. “You, Mila O’Fallen. You make me feel again. I’m alive, and not because I’m forced to be, I’m alive because I want to be. I’ll do anything for you. Anything.” Then his hands were gripping her ass and she was helpless to prevent the hard moan from spilling out.
“I love you, Frenzy.” The words burst from her mouth and she wasn’t ashamed. She didn’t want to take them back, because they were real and true and if she didn’t survive, then he’d know. “I’m sorry for acting like such an arse in the beginning. For being hotheaded and stubborn, for failing to see what a wonderful, amazing, and—”
“Sexy. You were going to say sexy, right?” he growled, nipping at her lower lip, and she laughed, because now she wasn’t anxious.
She wanted him with a fire that consumed, that obliterated any sense she had. Shoving her hands down his jeans, she felt him hard and full. His thick cock twitched in her hand as he groaned, and a feeling of supreme satisfaction took over because it was amazing that just her touch could make this powerful man weak in the knees.
“O’Fallen, from the moment you first opened your mouth and spoke to me with that sharp tongue of yours, I fell hard and fast. There is no other for me.” The timbre of his words deepened, shivered across her skin like dark chocolate, molten and decadent.
He hadn’t said the words, but it was still a proclamation of love, and it was enough for now.
Purring in the back of her throat, heart so full it felt like it might burst from her chest, she raked her claws down his shirt, ripping it in two. Grunting, he shrugged out of it. But his hands were just as frantic. Between sharp, biting kisses, they were undressing each other.
Both aware of the time, aware that at any moment the shadow might return, might rip them apart. It was now or never, and they weren’t going to waste a single moment of it.
“Mila,” he grunted, sucking in air sharply and causing his stomach to go concave when she’d feathered her fingers across the tight skin of his muscle.
It was still a wonder to her that she could touch him this way. They’d come so far since meeting. She was glad she hadn’t seen her future, hadn’t seen them as they were now because it made the discovery of it new and fresh and endlessly thrilling because it was all so unknown.
At any moment the shadow could bust through the door; at any moment the battle for their lives could commence. It lent then a frenzied urgency to touch and taste and mark themselves on one another.
With a growl, he’d torn her bra off and tossed it only goddess knew where. Her shorts were the next to follow. In no time they were both nude. There were no pleasantries, no witty exchanges. This was pure and primal, lust at its most basic form. Shoving her back until her knees collapsed against the edge of the bed, he crawled on top of her, reminding Mila of an advancing, sleek panther the way his body moved and muscles rippled.
The dappling of sunlight brushing against his burnished skin made her body shiver and her breathing quicken.
“Are you ready for me, little hybrid?” he whispered between heated kisses right at the swell of her breasts.
Burying her fingers through his thick, red hair, she nodded. She didn’t have to touch herself to feel how wet she was for him. “I’m always ready for you, reaper.”
His large hand traced a sensuous trail down her waist, molding around her thigh before sliding downward and swirling his fingers through her slick folds.
Gasping, her back arched as she opened wider. “Frenzy,” she moaned as the bliss zipped through her veins like a shot of heroin.
Working his magic fingers like a piston, he brought her to the edge of the spiraling pinnacle. Drunk on him, she dropped her knees wide on the bed and, being brazen, she twined her fingers through his, joining him as he brought her to the peak of pleasure.
“Mila.” His voice was gruff and thick as he stared at their twined hands.
Giving him a wicked smile, she felt her eyes shut as the powerful orgasm ripped like a gunshot through her. Screaming with release, she frantically clawed at his back, causing him to hiss and then grunt with laughter.
It felt like forever before she could actually breathe again, and the moment she could she realized he was still hard as a rock and the head of his cock rested heavy at her entrance.
Dazed and deliriously happy, she nodded at him to go all the way.
With a jubilant howl he buried himself so deep she felt his thickness move through her womb. Wrapping her long legs around his slim waist, she joined him, moving at his rhythm.
At first their pace was fast, almost angry, as if they sensed their time was quickly running out. But after a moment, things started to slow down. Rather than meeting their lustful demands, they began to whisper and tenderly caress. His lips hovered inches above her nipples, heating them with his moist breath.
“Mila,” he said again, and this time he sounded confused, almost enraptured by her.
Pausing, she stilled as she took the time to look deep into his eyes. They were full of questions, full of hope, but mostly they were full of love. And then she felt something she hadn’t felt in all the times they’d bedded each other.
Warmth.
Not from his sweat-slickened body pressed to hers, or because the morning was less cool than normal. This warmth lit her up from within, rolled through her blood like a low, creeping fog, saturated her limbs, filled her head.
“Frenzy?” she gasped, looking to him to see if by some miracle he was experiencing what she was.
Licking his lips, he nodded, and then they glowed.
Light poured from them, from inside them. She glowed purest white like the light she’d witnessed surrounding Lise. From Frenzy came black. But not the hateful black of the shadow or the queen. This was a luminous black flecked with silver starlight.
Moving within her slowly, he kissed her neck. “We’re joining, love,” he murmured, before licking the hollow of her throat.
Hissing at the delicious friction burning through them, she licked her teeth as another desire began to manifest within her.
The rushing of his blood was a melody in the night, a beautiful toll of bells that entranced and delighted her.
“What is this, Frenzy?” she asked, more to distract herself from the crushing desire to take his blood by force.
Still embedded deep inside her, he leaned onto his elbow, tracing a pattern between the black and the white. The quicksilver of his eyes seemed richer, like a thundercloud rolling in from the horizon. “The bonding of our souls.”
It seemed like he wanted to say more, but he must have noticed something in her face that told him she was waging an internal battle.
Grabbing her chin, he nodded. “Take my blood.”
His face was so serious, and she squeezed her eyes shut, wanting to more than anything, but knowing she needed to tell him of the possible consequences. “Frenzy, if a vampire feeds too often on one person, there is the chance that their will, their desires will become nothing more than to be our food. Fed upon. You’ll be my slave.”
His brows twitched. “Are you telling me this is why you’ve been refusing to feed on me?”
Gums aching, but body still throbbing for release, she nodded miserably. “I couldn’t do that to you.”
Smacking her lips with a laugh, he ruffled her hair. It shocked her so much she momentarily forgot about her aching gums.
“A fae cannot be enthralled, woman. Next time, just ask. Now…” He took her face gently between his large palms and placed her at the juncture of his neck.
His heady scent washed over her, made her stomach growl and her nails lengthen. “It doesn’t hurt?” Her voice was a whisper of sound, the temptation to take him almost obliterating all common sense.
“I vow it,” he said, and then shoved deep inside her again.
Wrapped up in their light, with his cock so thick and hitting all the most private places in her, she gave in to her desires with a joyful cry and bit.
She drank deep of the ambrosia; it filled her mouth with the taste of sunshine, moved through her veins, and again she felt the gathering pressure of a pending orgasm. It rushed through her. His moans of satisfaction only fueled and fed the beast coiling tighter and tighter.
“Look at me,” he hissed after a while, forcing her to release her hold. With one final flick of her tongue, she turned to his eyes.
They were full of joy and passion and desire.
It was her undoing; tossing her head, she fell into the black abyss.
“Keep your eyes on me,” he gritted out. His thumbs rested on her chin and she couldn’t have looked away even if she wanted to.
Because his eyes were no longer the silver of liquid mercury, but they were rolling with stars. Birth and death. A seedling shooting from the green earth, budding, then blooming into a lovely red rose before petals slowly floated down around it. The cycle of death and life repeated in the hypnotic gaze and she howled as his hot seed flooded her insides.
Then they were panting, collapsing on top of each other, and she could only lie there as his hand rubbed along the column of her throat, back and forth, back and forth. The lights that’d flooded from their pores gradually receded until they were no more than flesh and blood again.
After what felt like an eternity, Mila laughed, turning her head into Frenzy’s shoulder to give him a playful nip, the taste of his sweet blood still coating her tongue. “What in the hell was that?” she asked, and she knew he wouldn’t require her to clarify what she was talking about.
“The lights?” he asked with a smug grin.
She lifted her brows.
“Means you belong to me forever, little hybrid.” He nipped the corner of her lips. “You’re mine woman, all mine.”
With a growl, she smacked the hand that he’d wrapped around her breast playfully. “You better believe that goes both ways, you bloody, awful man.”
“Awful,” he snickered and squeezed her breast, not so much that it hurt, but enough to make her suck in a sharp breath. “Those lights were our souls becoming one. You’ve taken a piece of me and I a piece of you. What we’ve done can never be undone.” His voice was deep and throaty and it filled her with a sense of empowerment, but also made her want to cry, though she wasn’t sure why.
“You sure you want that, death?” she teased, because if she tried to be serious, to let him know what she actually thought about it, she’d definitely cry. “I’ve been known to be a bit of a shrew.”
“You?” He grinned. “Surely you’ve been misunderstood.”
She laughed. “That’s what I’ve always said.” Then, unable to resist touching him a second longer, she traced the area where she’d bitten him. It was amazing to her how fast he healed. Of course, she was able to heal herself, but so much of this was still new to her. To know that she could have him whenever she pleased, it made her stomach swirl with a band of butterflies. “I can’t believe you asked me to do that to you.”
Kissing the now-smooth section of his neck, she continued to strum her fingers gently across the strong, corded muscles.
Rolling over so that she was now on top of him, he framed her arse with his large hand, and though he was already getting softer, they were still joined. Mainly because she didn’t want to leave this bed. Every memory she had of this cabin was happy, and that’s how she wanted it to stay. She didn’t want ugly memories to taint what they’d done here. Who’d she finally become. A woman willing to bend and yield, a woman willing to admit that it wasn’t a weakness to love.
“And why not?” His deep voice tore her from her lovesick thoughts. “I told you before, I like it.”
“You’re crazy.” She licked the spot on his neck, which had already healed, her body satisfied, but that never really took the hunger away. She always wanted more of him.
“About you, Mila O’Fallen.” He turned so that they were forced to stare into one another’s eyes.
She couldn’t stop her smile. “You know, the thought of feeding off of anyone else, it disgusts me.” She grimaced. Mila couldn’t hide the shudder that rippled down her spine. “But not with you.”
Frenzy was so relaxed beside her, his hot hands gently stroking her body. She shouldn’t be ready so soon. Shouldn’t feel the need start a slow but inexorable crawl up and down her limbs, making her tingle and her stomach knot up with nerves. Seeing his smile, how the perpetual scowl he’d always worn around her when they’d first met was now nothing but a memory, it made her realize that he was it for her.
“I’ll let you in on a secret, woman.” The deep timbre of his words boomed like an echo through her chest. “I hate the thought of you experiencing that with anyone else. I, and I alone, will feed you.”
He wasn’t asking, and it was on the tip of her tongue to scoff or laugh, but the truth was, what she’d done with him, it was so intimate. The feeding of blood was almost as good as orgasm, taking another’s essence into her body was too personal for her to want to do that with anyone else.
She smiled. “Better watch out, reaper, I’m pretty ravenous. In fact…” She crawled up his body, pushing her hands against his chest to get into a sitting position, aware of the fact that his cock was definitely beginning to stir deep inside her. “I think I could—”
Cold unlike anything Mila had ever felt before engulfed them, making her teeth clack and her head hurt. She’d not experienced any type of cold since turning, and it sent her body into chaos. Heart pumping like a fist in her rib cage, she jumped off of Frenzy’s body, twirling on her heels, knowing immediately that they were no longer alone.
* * *
Frenzy’s need to protect his woman was an all-consuming obsession. The skin of his arms prickled as fire shot down his left arm, turning his hand to bone.
The shadow hovered just in front of the door frame, nothing more than a thin band of darkness.
“Get behind me, Mila,” he growled.
They’d been prepared for this ever since Lise instructed them that this was how it was supposed to be. The black box rested on the floorboard just beneath their bed. All they had to do was get to it without alerting the shadow to what they were doing.
Mila didn’t take her eyes off the creature as she backpedaled very slowly, like one would when trying to escape a rabid beast.
“And so we meet again, death.” The shadow’s voice was reed thin, nothing at all like the nasally scratch he remembered from his apartment. She was still little more than a streak of darkness; perhaps death’s kiss had weakened her more than he’d anticipated.
Experiencing a short but quick thrill that this might be easier than they’d thought, he yanked on Mila’s arm, dragging her fully behind him. Kicking his foot backward into her shin, he hoped she understood that he was silently urging her to get her hands on the box.
“Why are you here, creature?” he hissed, playing dumb and acting as if he didn’t know the queen had set the shadow up.
The faint scratching of Mila’s toes dragging along the hardwood floor told him she was slowly bringing the box toward her. And if the shadow heard, she’d never be able to suspect it was anything other than the tiny scampering of a rodent. All they had to do was get in close, open the box, and it was all over.
His woman would be safe.
Satisfaction flowed hot through his veins.
“You bastard,” the shadow hissed. “You lied to me. Her stench clings to you.”
All he had to do was distract her for a second longer. Just to give Mila enough time to secure the object.
Taking a tentative step toward the band, which was now beginning to lengthen and swell, take on the appearance of what it’d been back at his apartment, he beckoned her closer with the bone of his hand.
“None can resist death’s lure, apparently not even you, creature.” He toyed with the bony edge of his pinky finger. “Did you really think I would want you?”
The shadow quivered as the appendages began to finally take on form. He had to get her mad enough to attack, get her in close so that when Mila popped open the lid the shadow would be sucked back into the darkness.
“I will consume you both,” she whispered, a terrible, shivery sound that filled the room like killing frost, making his pulse stutter from the unbearable cold wafting out of it.
Frenzy desperately wanted to turn around, look to see that Mila now had the object in hand, but to do that would give away their endgame. Focusing all his fury into the shadow, he leered.
“Death is master of his own destiny. You cannot touch me unless I will it.”
Clenching his jaw, he took a step closer, stomach filling with fury that the damned creature wasn’t taking the bait. She stood in the doorway still, fully formed as she’d been in his apartment.
The eyes had appeared all over her, blinking and gazing back at him and Mila mournfully. Cocking her head, the slit where the mouth should have been opened and a terrible peal of laughter issued forth. It was a dry, sandpaper kind of sound that rubbed against his body abrasively.
“Fool me once, shame on you.” She drifted closer, but her body was continuing to swell. Become round and oblong, pulling and stretching like a ball of taffy. “I know the truth, reaper. I am no fool. The queen has given her my box.” The slit stretched apart into a macabre version of a grin. “She means to destroy me. It will not happen.”
With a flick of her wrist, a shot of black bolted from her palm, and then he heard Mila’s cry. Frenzy twirled just as the box flew to the other side of the room well out of their reach.
Bounding back to his woman, he grabbed her, tugging her close to his side. “Frenzy, I…” she stuttered, and he hushed her with a kiss to her temple.
“Not your fault,” he murmured.
“How touching.” The giant mass of shadow continued to spread throughout every corner of the room, laughing as it went. “Did you know, death, that I have a talent?” she asked in a breathless sort of wonder.
Mila trembled beneath his touch and he knew he’d been a fool to believe they could so easily bring a creature of the wild hunt down.
But he hadn’t lost hope; he couldn’t. Because the only way to protect his woman was to destroy this creature. He wouldn’t lose her, not like this. Not ever. He’d lost love once and it’d almost ruined him. But he knew Mila’s death would be one he’d never return from.
“What is your talent, you stupid piece of shite?” Mila growled, and though she trembled still in his arms, Frenzy now knew it wasn’t from fear, but from fury.
Hissing, the shadow swirled all her attention on the slight woman in his arms. A rumbling sound tore from his lips as several sets of eyes focused on Mila alone.
“To give you what you crave most,” she whispered, and then the air became dense. A strange shimmering sprang up between them, like a heat wave rippling on hot asphalt.
Suddenly Adrianna stood there. Brown curls piled high atop her head as the amber eyes that’d haunted him for centuries turned in his direction. She was nude, and he knew this was how she’d looked the night she’d been murdered by the Earl’s valet.
“Why weren’t you there, Frenzy? Why?” Her haunting whisper echoed through his skull.
Swallowing hard, telling himself this must be a mirage, he turned his head to the side, trying to blink away the image. But Adrianna wouldn’t let him, floating toward him. A shocking trail of cold traveled up his wrist and forearm, and across his bicep in a familiar caress.
He shuddered, remembering how she’d loved to touch him in such a manner. How that touch would signal a precursor for more.
A strange noise vibrated in his ear. A low pitched sort of humming, distracting and unfamiliar. But Adrianna wouldn’t let him focus on it, because her hands were now on his face and her velvety lips were so close to his own.
“Why weren’t you there, Frenzy? Why?” Luminous amber eyes ensnared him and his breathing increased.
Where was he? What had he been doing? Those two thoughts kept hammering at his skull because something important was happening, something he knew he should be focused on. But all he could see was Adrianna. All he could smell was the soft scent of roses perfuming her body.
“Adrianna.” A choked cry dropped off his tongue.
Her smile was wide and radiant. “My darling,” she cooed. “Why did you abandon me? Why did you leave me to him?” A visible tremble rippled through her.
Frenzy sensed something was wrong. Sensed the bindings of a spell encapsulating him. This wasn’t real.
But she was crying. “Adrianna, do not cry. I came to you, I did.”
“Oh, Frenzy, what did you do?” she sobbed, and the fight to hang on left him. He’d never been able to handle seeing her cry. Not then, not now.
Holding his arms out to her, he fell headlong into the memories.