Breathing Her Air

An
Ellora’s
Cave
Romantica
Publication

www.ellorascave.com

Breathing Her Air

ISBN 9781419917684

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Breathing Her Air Copyright © 2008 Lacey Thorn

Edited by Helen Woodall.

Photography and cover art by Les
Byerley
.

Electronic book Publication July 2008

With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher,
Ellora’s
Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

Island Guardians:

Breathing Her Air

Lacey Thorn

Dedication

This book is dedicated to—

The faithful readers of erotic romance.
I thank you for adding me to your library.

My mother, who continues to be my number one
fan
.

And to friends, the family we choose.

Prologue

If one should die…

Asme
looked down on the three sleeping sons she had given birth to only eight weeks before. They were a wondrous sight, bringing both tears to her eyes and a laugh to her lips. These three would know such love and joy and yet their future was anything but certain.

She had dreamed again last eve. Her mother speaking to her of what was set in motion, what she must watch for and prepare for.
So much depended on her, the fate of her entire people.
And now that love had bloomed between so many of the women and their mates, the island people were growing and new life was welcomed almost daily. Such joy could exist now if only there wasn’t the constant threat of war, the constant surge of invaders seeking solace on their shores.

With a weary sigh,
Asme
turned and found herself pulled into her husband’s arms.

“What new worries trouble you?” he spoke in a rough voice softened only by the fact that he whispered the words to her.

“Just thinking of our sons and if they will know anything other than war when they are older.”
She snuggled into his chest, relishing the feel of his strong arms around her. She hated that her time with him was so limited but understood why it must be as well.

“They will know the life of a warrior and will accept whatever fate hands to them. ’
Tis
the way it is.” His hand brushed her hair, following it down her waist and coming to rest on the fullness of her hip. He squeezed and fondled her flesh there, pushing the lace band lower until it fell in a pool of black at her feet. “I’ve missed you,” he murmured, pulling her closer still so that the hard contour of his erection pulsed against her belly.

“As I have missed you.
I’ve missed you so much.” She knew that she shouldn’t ask, that it wouldn’t change what was to be, but the words tumbled out anyway. “Will you stay long this time?
More than a day?”

His sigh was long and weary, filled with a wealth of information if one chose to hear it. “I would love nothing more than to stay here with you always, to hold you in my arms and make love to you more times during the day than you would be able to handle. But my duty keeps me away, a duty that you of all people understand. It is but one of the many reasons that I love you.”

Asme
looked up, her face flushed with love for the man who held her.
Joyful at his first words of love to her.
“You love me?”

“Of course I love you, woman. How could you not know that? You are the one good thing in my life, the sustenance that I need to keep me going, to keep fighting. These moments that I get to spend with you wrapped in my arms are precious and few. I treasure them more than my life. You are the very air that I breathe, the beat of my heart, the one truth in a world that is shaded with darkness and betrayal.”

“Who has betrayed you? Who would dare?”
Asme
demanded and Micah only smiled down at the woman whom he loved. He had done nothing to deserve her, had hurt and abused her on their first meeting. Had let life harden his heart and tried to keep it that way. He had loved and lost so much before and vowed that he would never hurt like that again. But she wouldn’t let him stay cold. She wouldn’t let him hide. She demanded of him and he found that he could give, that he could live, nay, was desperate to live…with her.

“It is not something for us to discuss at the moment, little princess. Not when you are pressed so snugly against me. Your beauty overwhelms me. Your heart ensnares me. But it is your soul that binds me as no other ever could. I need you, little princess. I need you.” His eyes were filled with passion and love and
Asme
lost herself in them.

“Yes,” she moaned as he lifted her high into his arms and carried her through the archway and into their bedroom. He eased her down onto the bed and settled between her naked thighs, placing his engorged staff where she wanted it most. “Yes,” she cried again, undulating beneath him, rubbing her slippery pussy against the leather of his pants.

“I need you as I have never needed another,” he told her as he trailed kisses along her collarbone. His hands were busy untying her veiled top and she shuddered with anticipation as he finally pulled it free and tossed it aside. “I need to be lost in you, with you for this one moment in time. No war, no chaos, no demands on my time.
Just a man loving his woman.
Just me and you.”
He took her mouth with a passion that exploded on both of their tongues as they meshed and mated with near violence.

Asme
arched farther up into him, soaking the knuckles on the hand that he used to release his straining cock from his pants. He was long and thick and it had been entirely too long since he had loved her. They both groaned with pleasure as he thrust deep into her clenching pussy. She was wet with her desire and he filled her completely.

“Yes, Micah.
Only you and me.”
She sighed with pleasure as he began a rhythm that was sure to lead to the release that they both desired.
“Only you and me.”
It was a promise made in the heat of passion, a promise from one lover to another.
One to unite.

But one person didn’t see it that way. All he saw was that his brother had everything again.
Everything that was supposed to be denied him.
Everything that should have been denied him this time around.
Finally
Godar
had found a woman who could hear him, understand him and love him. But even now, Micah claimed her as well. She may spend most of her time with
Godar
, but he knew how much she enjoyed her time with Micah. Why was he destined to live in Micah’s shadow? Was the devastation that Micah had known the first time around not enough to kill the humanity inside the one most called prince? What would it take to bring him to his knees?
Godar
glanced once more to the bed and the couple writhing in it—the woman who should be his and only his. She would be soon. It was a vow he made quietly inside. Soon she would be entirely his, no matter what it took.

Some instinct made
Asme
glance up to the doorway and for a moment she saw
Godar
there watching them before he turned and walked away. She would never understand why he chose to stay away when Micah was home, why he never joined them in the bed. But those weren’t the thoughts that plagued her at the moment. It was the look in his eyes before he turned away. She was almost positive that she saw anger there, and hate. A shiver went down her spine and not for the first time she wondered just what secrets her silent love harbored.

Chapter One

“She’s gone,” Finn and Tanner
Verbani
said at the same time, causing all three of the brothers to look at one another.

“Who’s gone?” Bram asked, pointing to Finn first when it appeared that both brothers would start talking at the same time again.

“
Alea
,” Finn stated. “She’s gone. I’ve been over the entire camp twice and looked everywhere. She’s nowhere and Vulcan is gone as well.”

“At least she has Vulcan. You know the Aqua-
Phoen
will watch over and protect her as best he can.” Bram shook his head with anger. “Where the hell she went and why is beyond me at this point. There is chaos everywhere around us and it will only spread if we leave to find her. We must take our place as our father’s sons and step in. We must take charge of the people and ensure the safety of everyone. It all rests on our shoulders now.”

It was the last big decision that their father had made before his murder. All the people from the island were to gather in the same spot, what had once been known as the Goddess’ Temple but that now was known as the prince’s home. It was the hope of the warriors that it would be easier to guard and protect the women and children if they were all in one spot and not spread across the island. It was something that they should have done before but pride had them believing that they could beat back the invaders no matter what. That pride had already cost them a number of their women, who unfortunately had been kidnapped by the others. Now it would be up to the three of them to ensure that the plans to unite were carried out and not waylaid in the confusion during the aftermath of such a heinous death. Someone had betrayed and killed the prince. And that someone would be made to pay.

“What of our other father? What of
Godar
?” Finn questioned.

Bram just shook his head sadly. “You know that he would not want the job of prince. He has stated often enough that he would never choose the path that our father Micah walked. No, it will be up to us to take over from this point on. We are the legacy that the prince left.”

Both Finn and Tanner closed their eyes and Bram knew exactly what they were trying to block out. Just as he knew that it would do no good. None of them would ever forget the sight of their father being carried back into camp, his body riddled with primitive arrows. But what would haunt them even longer was the vision of their mother as she had raced to him and, ignoring the arrows, had embraced him, her tears mixing with the blood.
Asme
had bent over him and whispered something to him, though all present knew that he was beyond hearing her words. Then she had reached down, jerked a small ritualistic dagger from the band of her skirt, and cut the palm of her hand, letting the blood drip onto her husband’s broken and lifeless body. She had thrown her head back and fire had blazed from her eyes as she spoke.

Marked with blood, I’ve sealed your fate,

What you should’ve loved, you chose to hate.

Our day of reckoning has come at last,

Love’s first sacrifice to atone for the past.

Earth, fire, water and air,

Each shall heed the call with care.

A Mystic’s blood, for a mystic call,

The goddess’s protection over them all.

Asme
looked up at those around her though she seemed to see none of them. “Time is short. It has begun and there is nothing to do but follow where it leads us.” Finally she noticed her sons and focused her attention on them. “You must see to their protection.
For if one shall die, all will be lost.”
Her eyes were sharp and focused and there was no looking away from her. “Promise me!” She commanded and though many were there it was her sons whom she spoke to and they knew exactly what she was asking of them.

They knew all about the coming of the Island Guardians. Though their fathers had never truly believed, the boys had seen what power lay within their mother’s body and had no doubts that it would be as she said. She had even told them of their cousin
Alea
and why she must be guarded and protected at all times until her mates arrived to take over.

“I promise,” Bram had knelt beside her and, taking his own dagger, had slit his palm and joined it with hers over the body of his father. Finn and Tanner had soon joined them.
Asme
had nodded, her eyes showing pleasure at her sons joining her in her blood pledge.

“
Alea
does not need you anymore. They will see to her. Your mate is coming. You will know her when you meet her. Watch over her. Protect her at all costs, even unto your own lives. When the time is right, she will know what to do. Trust in her and help her to trust in you. Love her as only you can.” With that
Asme
had stood and spoke in the ancient tongue of the goddess before glancing down at Micah one more time, her eyes misty with more tears that she refused to shed. But when she looked back up there was no sign of grief. There was only the icy, controlled rage of someone set on a course of vengeance.

Tanner had tried to stop her, but it was Bram who shook his head and said to give her some space. Their mother was grieving and he felt it only right that she be allowed a few moments of solitude to do just that. Even a princess deserved the right to grieve in private. Now with Tanner’s next words he regretted that decision.

“Who did you discover was gone? Did you search for
Alea
as well?” Bram asked Tanner.

“No,” Tanner stated. “Were we not told that her mates were near and that they would care for her now? I looked for our mother.”

“Mother?”
Bram and Finn repeated and Tanner glared at them as he spoke the words that neither of them wanted to hear.

“She’s gone.
Vanished.
No one has either seen or heard her since she left the clearing where Father’s body was.”

“Was?” Bram asked incredulously.

“It is gone as well.
Disappeared with no traces.”
Tanner defied them to call him a liar.

“How can one small woman disappear with the body of a warrior with no one having any idea?” Finn demanded of Tanner. But it was Bram who sighed and answered.

“When that one woman is the Island Princess, the last descendant of the Goddess of Altair, anything is possible.” He looked both of his brothers in the eyes and sighed with resignation. “It has begun just as she told us. The traitor, the blood sacrifices, it has all begun.”

“The Guardians will gather in the valley soon,” Finn agreed.

“And we must be there to ensure that they arrive unharmed,” Tanner stated. Their mother had drilled this into them since birth. They knew what they must do, where they must go. For if one should die then all would be lost forever.

* * * * *

Vulcan led the way from the sky above and through him
Alea
could see all that he saw. She often wondered at her connection with the beautiful Aqua-
Phoen
but she never questioned it. Some things just were. She slipped among the trees, being sure to keep the blue of his feathers in her sight. The sun flashed off the silver of his talons and beak but she felt no fear for him. He was a mighty bird and could and had protected himself against many predators.

They were the predators now. Together they followed the trail left behind by the ones who had killed her uncle, Prince Micah. It was a duty that she felt in her blood as the daughter of the prince’s younger brothers. She was very close to her fathers, probably due to the loss of her mother at such an early age. She’d grown up mostly around men and it wasn’t until recently that she had actually met some of the younger island women.

The Isle of Altair was a beautiful sanctuary to those who lived there. Or at least it had been before the island priestess had placed a curse on it. The story
Alea
had heard was that Prince Micah and his men had found the Isle of Altair when they had been looking for a new place to call home. Disease had swept through their home, killing off women and children and leaving the men bereft and without a habitable environment to live in. It was with heavy hearts that they set out, not knowing from one day to the next what they would find.
Or if they would find anything at all.

A storm had landed them on these shores and with determination they had overtaken Altair and claimed both the land and the inhabitants as theirs. Too much determination and not enough gratitude had led them to the current war-torn life they lived. It was all
Alea
had ever known but she had heard tales of a different time, before the warriors came, when life was simpler and there was no sound of war drums in the air. Now the drums were sometimes all she could hear.

Prince Micah and his twin
Godar
had laid claim to a beautiful girl named
Asme
. It turned out that she was the island
Mahiki
, or blood princess. The priestess was her mother and they were direct descendents of the goddess who ruled the Isle of Altair. And in that one moment of claiming, the prince and his warriors had called a curse upon them all. The priestess in her anger had cursed them with a vengeance to a life of war and strife. But for the love of her daughter and her people she had also left them with hope. Hope in the form of five women, born of the island,
who
would grow up and, once united, save them all. The curse was one that most women grew up reciting. But because of the lack of a woman’s influence in
Alea’s
life she had only recently learned of it when she was sent to live with her aunt, the Princess
Asme
.

Because you take instead of seek

Because you cause the goddess to weep

In this take heed my words to hear

For a time of reckoning soon will near.

In five times five the Guardians will arise

Five women marked by the goddess’s eyes

Of Fire, Earth, Water and Air

Four will become the Guardians of Altair

The fifth shall ply the mystic realms

And draw them together in the Valley of Elms

When the five are united in the mystic place

Only then will the curse be lifted I place

Cursed to battle to hold what you take

This is the hand dealt you by fate

Warriors, fierce with muscles and brawn

Shall pray for the day of the Guardians to dawn

For only through them will peace come at last

The Guardians united shall atone for your past

So protect and serve when once they appear,

Or be cursed to live forever in fear.

“For if one shall die, all will be lost,”
Alea
murmured as she stopped to catch her breath. Vulcan circled in the air above her, as attuned to her as she was to him. There were times that they seemed almost as one.

The curse made her think of
Asme
. Now there was a woman of strength and courage. She had gone from the life that she had known to one that included not one but two husbands, and had done it with a dignity that gave courage to all around her. Her legend on the island was alive and well, even among the warriors. Few would speak badly of her, most out of a deep respect. Though
Alea
was sure that for some it was more out of fear for what Prince Micah would do.
Or would have done.

She shook her head. It was hard to believe that he was really gone. For the longest time Prince Micah had only been someone that others spoke of, almost more myth than man. But then her time of claiming had approached and she had been sent to her aunt and uncles to learn the things she needed to learn prior to being claimed.

It was a part of island life, an event that occurred for every woman when she reached the age of twenty-one and was deemed claimable to the island males. She could be wooed and if won through pleasure then she was bonded and branded. She would wear the seal of her husbands’ family on her lower right abdomen for all to see. The braid of her hair would give way to a ribbon, for once a woman was claimed her hair would never be bound again. She would leave her caste behind and join that of her new family.

Alea
was part of the air caste, better known as the watchers. They were the ones who resided in the mountainous areas of the island, keeping careful watch over the shores and reporting when they saw new ships coming. They would send messages through the numerous island birds that would fly into the villages carrying information for the women there. Most of those women wore the standard island female garb of long black skirts fitted at the hips with a band of lace, sandals and the veiled tops of their caste.
Alea
had learned what the colors meant once she had joined her aunt. Air wore white. Those who tended the fires wore red and those who dealt with the earth and all it grew wore green. The ones who took care of the water supply wore blue. And then there were the ones who cared for the sick and the animals who wore black.

Then there was
Alea
who dressed more like her warrior fathers. She wore the same brown leather pants as a warrior though hers fit lower on her hips. Her top was the same style as the veiled top of the island women, tying in back of her neck and in the middle of her back but it too was made of leather. And she wore a leather guard on her arm from wrist to elbow that allowed her to hold Vulcan when he wished to be close to her. Unlike the weapons belts filled with a myriad of different things that the warriors always had on,
Alea
wore a pouch at her waist, filled with bits of
palona
fruit. The fruit was a dark brown on the outside but soft pink on the inside and very sweet. And Vulcan loved it. So
Alea
kept some small pieces of the fruit with her at all times, not a hardship since it was so abundant on the island.