Abducting the Princess (7 page)

“Don’t say anything,” he murmured huskily. “I know it’s a lot to take in. But I know in my heart we can make it work.”

Her chest ached. Didn’t Mahaya know she belonged to another? She’d made a public vow that she would marry to preserve the monarchy. She wouldn’t, couldn’t go back on her word. No matter how much she wished otherwise. “What you’re asking is impossible.”

He strode through whatever shortcut he’d taken before stepping into the clearing. The moonlight was blinding after the comparative darkness. And she saw all too easily the hard glitter of determination in his stare.

“Nothing is impossible, my Mira.”

He splashed into the waterhole, wading deep. Her hands slid behind his nape as they sank into the water that was gloriously refreshing after the relentless sun and fierce sandstorm. But she didn’t take the time to appreciate the water’s silken touch that washed away the sand and all traces of blood from between her thighs.

She closed her eyes and sucked in a shuddering breath. It tore at her soul knowing this man was her perfect mate in every way, if only she’d not made the vow to her people to marry Jarvias. Her eyes opened. If only conceiving with this amazing
nightmix
was possible.

Even though falling pregnant to a
larakyte
was little more than hopeful, at least she had a chance. At least her people could have some faith she might one day produce an heir to the throne. One of Mahaya’s hands cupped beneath her chin, drawing her gaze to his. “I know your heart belongs to your people. But it might ease your mind knowing that many of your subjects already love me for protecting their princess.”

His words rang with honesty. She searched his open stare, everything starting to finally make sense. “That’s why my people didn’t try to stop you from taking me away,” she murmured. “That’s why the crowd shielded you from my own soldiers…they knew you were protecting me from the dissenters.”

“Yes.”

She sighed, taking a moment to think everything through. Mahaya’s name had niggled at her memory because she’d heard rumors about a man and his followers who’d decided the royal soldiers weren’t sufficient to protect the kingdom.

It had seemed laughable at the time and she’d once again shrugged off the rumors and focused all her attention on the peoples’ daily issues and dilemmas.

Goddess, when had she become such a narrow-minded fool?

He pressed a kiss to her lips. “Not that I expect to match your father’s greatness.”

He underestimated himself. She felt certain he would indeed be a great king, just like her father. But it was madness to even contemplate such a thing. Their being together was never going to happen.

“What I do know is that I’ll understand the people and their needs.” His eyes burned. “Just tell me you’ll at least think about it?”

When he kissed her again, soft, tender butterfly kisses on her lips, her throat, then back to her lips again, she sighed with surrender, unwilling to spoil the moment by reminding him of her oath to another man. He’d been there when she’d made the vow, he had to know that the future he spoke of couldn’t come true, no matter how much they both wanted it to.

Feeling heartsick but refusing to dwell on it, she moved even closer to his powerful body, her curves fitting perfectly against his.

She had nothing to be afraid of anymore. Besides the fact being with Mahaya took away all her fears of the dark, she was secure in the knowledge she hadn’t inherited her father’s
nightmix
gene.

And it was all thanks to the man before her.

Her legs wrapped around his hips as her hands glided up the silky smooth skin of his back—his shift had fully healed him—before curling around his nape. Anchored to him. Not letting go.

His cock pressed against her belly, rock hard and insistent.

She smiled with his lips sealing hers. For as long as she lived, she would never forget this man, this moment. Never forget his scent, his touch, his taste. Never forget his beautiful form and his brilliant mind.

Mahaya dipped low until the water slid over their heads and they were both submerged, cocooned in a whole new silky cool world. Wondrous. Magical.

Their mouths still joined and her lungs beginning to burn, Mahaya abruptly kicked upward and they broke through the surface. She gasped for air, aroused and a hundred kinds of emotional.

Their hands clung tight, thighs brushed and stares locked. Though no words were exchanged, there was a shared intensity between them that couldn’t be denied. In silent admission they waded back to the shore.

Mira turned and moved back into his arms. He laid her down on the bank that was clear of the sharp pine needles. Her breath caught in her throat at the intensity in his eyes when he leaned over her before he kissed each corner of her mouth, his lips warm and gentle.

Her head fell back as his lips brushed down the column of her throat, lingering in the hollow before moving lower. When his tongue swept over her nearest nipple before gently nipping and then soothing with a series of gentle suckles, she couldn’t help but cry out with need.

Goddess, what if she never experienced this again? What if this man was the only one who could bring her body to ecstasy? What if feeling this way would one day be nothing more than a faded, wistful memory?

Do you really think Jarvias will bring you to orgasm
? An insidious voice asked.

She stiffened and Mahaya’s head reared back, his stare purposeful, watchful. She jerked at the touch of his questing fingers between her thighs, then softly moaned as he spread apart her vulva and worked her tight, sensitized clit.

She let loose with a little sigh, allowing selfish needs this once to take control as Mahaya massaged her into a mass of quivering desire. It would surely be better to experience the wonder of true bliss with this man in what little time they had than to never know true pleasure?

She gasped at the increased pressure of his hand, the thick night air coming alive with her involuntary little cries. Until she had no choice but to succumb completely, climaxing with a sharp moan, her hips pushing off the ground and her thighs splaying wider still.

Then he was moving over her, his mouth covering hers once again, as if he was sealing his ownership of her. Doubts for one moment dissolved all the giddy delight within. A moment that was gone as soon as he guided his cock into her moist pussy and slid into her with a groan. She closed her eyes at the feel of his long, impossibly hard cock, aware he was seconds away from climaxing too.

Wrong. He stroked in and out with an ever-increasing pace, their flesh rhythmically slapping and the musk of their joining assailing the air.
Oh gods.
She held on for as long as she could before he pushed her right to the edge again, then over. She came with a barely repressed scream, her lashes fluttering and back bowed as ecstasy carried her away.

Mahaya’s forearm muscles bulged, his jaw clenched. His eyes glazed over, then his warm seed released into her as his breath expelled in a rush.

He stared down at her long minutes later, his eyes filled with an odd emotion before he whispered, “I love you, Mira.”

Her pulse skipped a beat. A strange ache filled her chest. Though everything within her yearned for his love, it could never happen. “Don’t,” she whispered instead. “Please, don’t say that.”

“I’m not going to pretend anymore,” he said hoarsely. “I loved you before you even knew I existed.”

She frowned. “I…I don’t understand.” She resisted a whimper as he separated from her wet heat. She missed him being inside her already.

“I watched you from afar for many months, making certain you were safe from the dissenters.”

The ache inside her chest expanded. How was she ever going to leave him now? He’d been taking care of her long before she even knew of him. Sorrow jabbed at her soul and wrenched it in half, causing her to blurt almost desperately, “You know I can’t go back on my word.”

His perplexed gaze held hers. “What word? Mira, what are you talking about?”

She took a deep, steadying breath, her body taut. “Mahaya you were there. You must have heard. I’m—”

Jax abruptly bounded away from where he’d peacefully grazed. He swung around, snorting with flared nostrils, his eyes wide.

Shit.

Men on foot, easily distinct by their red turbans, emerged from the trees.

She closed her eyes, her pulse crashing wildly in her ears. She’d distracted Mahaya, weakened his usual alert vigilance. After everything he’d done for her, she’d put the man she loved in danger.

The leader’s face was flushed with triumph, his hard stare glinting with lust as he stared at her. “I was right.”

Mahaya stood to shield her while she grabbed her clothes from nearby and clumsily pulled them on.

“Desert fever, Princess?” the leader snorted. “You nearly had me fooled.”

Fully dressed, she moved to stand beside Mahaya. She glanced up at him but his face was hard, unreadable. Didn’t matter, she sensed all too clearly his barely suppressed inner cat. She looked back at the human leader, her head held high. “Can’t say we wish it hadn’t,” she retorted. “Tell me, what gave us away?”

The dissenter arched a brow. “Let’s just say when your
hero
rescued you when you were giving your pretty little speech to your people, there was something recognizable about him even with the hood covering much of his face.”

“My ultra-good looks?” Mahaya mocked, clearly impervious by the fact he was nude as he faced off the dissenters.

“Your eyes,” the leader spat.

Mira released a pent-up breath. Of course. Despite the shadows thrown by the hood, someone must have glimpsed his beautiful, brilliant-green eyes. Most
Zaneean
people sported brown eyes.
Larakytes
inherited silvery-blue eyes. It was only a
nightmix
whose eye color seemed indiscriminate.

“What do you want from us?” she asked imperiously. If they were going to die she wasn’t doing it as a coward.

The leader clucked his tongue at her foolish audacity and withdrew his blade. “Do I need to spell it out? We want to free our people from under the
larakyte
rule. To do that we need to spill your blood, Princess.”

A shiver raced up and down her spine. She forced a steady voice. “By
trying
to spill mine you will leave us no choice but to spill yours.”

Some of the men behind their leader laughed before he said jeeringly, “You think we’re scared of a princess and one man without a weapon?

Mahaya visibly stiffened. He turned to her with a red glow in his eyes and said under his breath, “Get into the water and stay there. I’ve never given into my darkness…I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop it.”

Oh Mahaya, no.

She couldn’t say the words but Mahaya must have read them in her face.

“Just this once, trust me, Mira.”

Throat tight with fear, she nodded.

The leader brandished his sword and stepped forward, followed closely by his heavily armed men. All eyes remained on Mahaya who stood still even as she retreated one step at a time. Water lapped at her feet and ankles. Despair sped up her already galloping heart.

She had to stay strong, had to trust this once in a
nightmix.

The very idea seemed inconceivable.

Yet it was their only hope.

Though Mahaya appeared powerful, invincible, he had next to no time to shift again. And shifting so soon after the first time would use up all the strength he had.

She never expected Mahaya to leap forward and shift in one fluent motion, landing on the ground as a huge black panther. She squeezed her eyes shut, sick inside as she shrank farther into the safety of the water. Heaven help him, he’d forced his shift. His strength wasn’t the issue anymore. Not when the coming pain of f
allout
might well kill him.

The dissenters ran toward Mahaya with shrill battle cries. He batted the raised swords away with snarls of rage, his claws then slashing and gouging flesh. But it was the leader who died first, his screams for mercy dissolving into a choked gargle before he fell, unmoving and silent, to the ground.

Not one dissenter was shown mercy as Mahaya’s claws ripped flesh into strips, his ferocious teeth cracking into bones and skull.

Men shrieked, swore and sobbed. The blood continued to spill freely.

Sinking waist-deep in the water, she clapped a hand to her mouth. But somehow her stare stayed fixed on the
nightmix
, despite the brutality and bloodshed. She caught glimpses of his beautiful eyes, which were no longer green. They were bright red, devoid of humanity, devoid of anything but cold-blooded killing.

She fought down a sudden urge to retch. She knew it was kill or be killed, but this wasn’t the man she knew. This was a savage, merciless monster. She swiped at the tears streaming down her face, aware she’d lost the man she’d loved even before she’d had the guts to tell him.

Mahaya’s big head swung around to her, his unblinking eyes staring at her. Just enough time for one of the dissenters to push a blade deep into the
nightmix’s
side. Mahaya’s roar filled the air even as he swung around. His jaw wide, he clamped onto the enemy’s face. Bones cracked and blood sprayed.

The remaining men backed away, stark terror stamped on their faces. When they spun around and fled, the
nightmix
pursued. He leaped and took the nearest one down. Screams pierced the air before the dissenter was forever silenced.

I can’t let this happen. I can’t let his beast overtake him as he surrenders to the killing spree. I can’t lose the one man I love to his inner darkness.

She waded from the water, gambling on the hope that beneath the violence beat the heart of the compassionate, gentle man she loved more than life itself.

She couldn’t think on the fact the
nightmix
might well kill her. This once, her heart ruled over her head, no logic involved. Just pure, steadfast faith.

Picking her way around the mangled and bloodied bodies of the dissenters, she made her way toward the massive, growling
nightmix
. His back leg muscles coiled in readiness to spring after the other fleeing humans.