Darkness Unbound (17 page)

Ashor pointed at her. “You shot…Draggon will freak out. And get into deep waters with the gods again.”

“He already gave me the thumbs up on this. I don’t need his help.” Astrid pivoted and walked toward the closet. She envisioned the Mexican with his smoking cigarette. A new doorway opened. She hoped this would be the right one. The last thing she wanted was to have Kane and Zannis come face-to-face.

“Who’s Draggon?” Kane asked from behind her. Suspicion laced his tone.

“Just a guy,” she mumbled.

“You are not still messing with
that
guy are you?”

She darted a glare at him. “You coming?” And ducked through the portal.

“Damn it, Astrid.” On the other side of the portal, Kane said, “Well, that was interesting.”

Astrid threw a palm against the car’s passenger front door as her peripherals darkened and then lit with sparkles. She pointed at the Mexicans milling around the opposite side of the car. All four of the car’s doors were open. The contents of the glove box were strewn across the front seat.

Javen sauntered through the doorway. His dilated eyes met hers.

“You’re high,” Astrid accused.

“Oh, how I wish, love, that I could find something to take me all the way there. I might be slightly buzzed.” He glanced around as if utterly bored. “So, let’s talk about
seichim.
”

“What? Say-keem? This isn’t a teaching exercise.”

“Those clowns?” Javen nodded at the milling hostiles. “I think Kane can handle them for now. The gods gave you not only this kickass teleport thing, but also
seichim.
It’s this mystic energy that allows you to focus, be better than you are…stronger and whatnot.”

“Which one of the assholes shot you?” Kane asked.

“Not real sure,” she replied.

Javen cleared his throat. “So to activate
seichim
, you have to concentrate.”

Kane sauntered around the front of the car. He squared off against the quartet of would-be kidnappers. Kane always did have balls of steel. Damn it. He was going to get himself killed.

A dyed-blond hostile twirled his blade and mouthed off about Kane’s mother.

Javen continued his boring tirade.

“Quiet,” Astrid ordered Javen.

Kane turned his head to look at her—and that’s when it happened. The blond loudmouth thrust his blade straight into Kane’s gut. Definite bowel penetration.

Astrid screamed. Her body surged forward.

Kane whipped around on the blond Mexican, his face tight with anger and pain. He yanked the weapon from his abdomen. But how long would his strength last? Even injured, he was so intent on going after the asshole, and would probably get himself even more messed up in the process. All this anger over the fact someone shot her? This event had a flashing neon sign over it that read
her fault
.

She would not be the cause of Kane’s death. He was her rock. She didn’t want to lose him this afternoon, tomorrow, or any other day.

That’s messed up
, she told herself. She was just getting it on with Zannis, and now she admitted to a major thing for Kane? Maybe this was just codependence after a few years of working together.

Why wasn’t he pulling his Glock? Was he turning suicidal on her?

When a knife slashed Kane’s forearm, she released a scream and let anger consume her. She locked onto the Mexican moving in on Kane’s left. Her momentum pushed the guy backwards off his feet into the car door with a dent-impacting thud. She punched his face, crunching his nose. Blood splattered her face. She tore into the enemy with Kane’s knife, hacking his chest. Then rationality crashed in. She ended it with a throat slash.

She needed to assess Kane’s injury. As she pivoted, Kane landed a hook punch into his attacker’s cheek. He held out his left hand to her. She tossed the blade, which Kane caught in a smooth move that landed the knife in the enemy’s heart.

A hostile barreled into her, crashing her against the car with an ear-ringing thud.

Come on, Javen. Get your ass in the game,
she thought. She stared at Javen from where her head was smashed against the car by her attacker.

Javen glanced up briefly, and resume cleaning his nails with the tip of his dagger. “Wish I could get in the game. I need them to attack me first. You do know you’re five times stronger than that human, if you’d just activate
seichim.
Forget everything you learned as a human and kick his ass. You could rip his limbs off, break his neck, whatever.”

Maybe on a day when she wasn’t down a pint of blood and fighting vertigo she’d be stronger.

A fourth hostile rounded the car, rifle raised. He targeted Javen who held his arms wide with an
oh-please
grin. The hostile unloaded one round from a shotgun. Javen dodged the bullets’ impact. His eerie hair-raising laughter stopped everyone.

“Well, halle-fucking-lujah.” Javen twirled his knife. “You three are mine.”

With a super-speed move that had Astrid blinking a what-the-hell, Javen hauled her attacker away and proceeded to do a knife hacking demo that’d make any forensic pathologist proud. In comparison, her knife work looked amateur. Within less than a minute, the other two lay unquestionably dead in a pool of crimson slashes. Javen wiped his blade on one of his victim’s shirts, and stepped away.

Javen announced, “That, Astrid, is what
seichim
can do for you.”

“How’d you manage to keep your shirt clean?” Kane asked with one hand cradled against his gut.

Javen pointed his knife at Astrid. “As I was saying,
seichim
is all about focus. Gives you speed, accuracy, and in general kickass killer ability.”

“You’re bleeding,” she blurted to Kane.

Kane flashed a lopsided smile. “So are you.”

Darkness pressed on her brain, to which she mentally yelled
not right now
. She stumbled against the car. Kane caught her and lifted her into his arms with a grunt.

Astrid mumbled, “Put me down. You’re hurt worse than me.”

He whispered near her ear. “I’ve got you. You’ve been bleeding too long. You should take better care of yourself.” His deep blues sucked her in with the promise of protection.

She ordered, “Get us into the car, Langford, before one of us falls down.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Kane gently propped her in the back seat and shuffled around the back of the car to scoot in next to her.

“You okay?” Astrid asked Kane as Javen squealed the car into a one-eighty. Javen punched it, whiplashing them hard against the backseat.

Kane didn’t respond. His eyelids remained closed, and his head tilted back against the headrest. His body slowly listed to his right.

She jerked him upright and snapped, “Don’t even think about it. If you die, I’m going to be ticked off.”

Kane’s eyes blinked open. He did a few open and shuts as if confused.

“You stay with me,” she ordered. “You hear me, Kane? Stay with me, damn it.”

He nodded before his eyes shut again. Kane’s large hand enveloped hers. She stared down at their connection. And squeezed back, needing the flexion of his touch. That small confirmation of his vitality soothed her, but didn’t diminish her guilt. She whispered, “I’m sorry.”

His hand grip weakened, and his head thudded against the window.

Shit.
“Drive faster, Javen.” She touched Kane’s wrist, releasing her held breath when she detected his pulse. Not as strong as she’d like, but not dead. She didn’t remove her hand from that confirmation he lived. She whispered, “Don’t die on me, Kane.”

****

Astrid twisted the shower knobs to full blast with heat set to max. She perched on the hard edge of the nearby sunken tub and stared at the tiled shower stall until steam filled the room. She fiddled with the ties of her terrycloth robe.

Kane is fine
, she told herself for the hundredth time since she’d checked on him minutes ago. He slept a few doors down. The doctor said she’d done what she could. He needed rest, but he’d make it.

He’s alive,
she told herself.
Get in the shower.

Her mind slid from Kane to Zannis, concerned that, like Kane, Zannis could also be damaged and half-dead in hell. Familiar energy buzzed her chest as it readied to open a portal, no doubt to Zannis.
No.
Out of habit she cursed Zannis, and embraced the hate that surfaced. But she shouldn’t feel that anymore. She didn’t need to, right? His murder attempt hadn’t been his fault, or so he claimed. The guy lived in hell. He suffered now because of her. Because he’d gone a little nuts after what happened. He broke one of the gods’ rules. But a small part of her brain wondered why he hadn’t fought harder to protect her. How could this unparalleled warrior the other magi both feared and respected fail to fight one daemon, if he’d loved her? If it’d been her, she would’ve stopped that sword’s path, or died before it killed the man she loved. Maybe her love hadn’t been reciprocated. They’d only had one night.

The energy in her chest zipped down her limbs. A doorway slowly opened in front of the bathroom sink.
Shit.
Her thoughts had distracted her.

“Why do you summon me? Are you in danger?” Zannis asked. His body stood poised for action.

She snapped upright. Her breath caught when he crossed into the bathroom and she noticed his face. Compassion burst beyond the confusion of her feelings. She crossed to him and brushed her fingers over a nasty bruise along his left cheek, and healing laceration above his puffy left eye. “Another altercation with the snake?”

He shrugged.

“Why are you trapped there?” She stepped backwards out of his reach.

“My punishment for…crimes of the past.” He stared down at her. The sludgy black swirled viciously over his blue irises.

God, his face, despite the trauma, was impossibly handsome—arrogant, masculine, and resolute. Her body vibrated with the need to feel his hands on her. Her breasts tingled as air teased through the opening of her robe, like the flick of a tongue teasing them to peaks.

“Astrid,” he murmured hoarsely. “Do not look at me with such...” His voice trailed off.

Her mind swirled with sexual longing, disappointment, and sorrow for all they’d lost. She hadn’t been with a man since him. None elicited anything close to this feral need, or tempted her with a soul-searing connection. For just a few minutes, she needed to feel that sense of belonging. She unbuttoned the first three buttons of his dark shirt and pulled it up over his head. Her mouth skimmed across his chest.

He rested a hand against her cheek. “You are so incredibly beautiful.”

She fumbled at his unfamiliar pants fastening.

He caught her hands in his, halting them. “
Rouhi,
we…cannot.”

“Why?” She hated the pleading tone. “Just shower with me.” She glanced suggestively at the running water.

“There is no such activity as
just
bathing with you. Both of us unclothed…” He shook his head. A flash of anxiety passed through his eyes.

“Just once more. You want this as much as me,” she murmured, resting her cheek on his chest. The rapid thumping of his heart made her smile. She rocked her hips into his erection, eliciting a satisfying groan from him.

He said hoarsely, “I wish to have you someplace where I can spend days—months—exploring every inch of you. Somewhere beautiful and away from all that is Scimitar life. Away from…consequences. Us proceeding right now is the gods’ will. I want nothing more than to be with you, but I fear the consequences.”

“There might not be a tomorrow for us. I want…to feel whole, even if only for a few moments.” She shifted forward, her breasts pushing against his naked chest and entwined her hands around his neck. Her fingers teased the long blond strands.

“Astrid…” He tried again. Yet his face moved toward hers until their lips met. His thigh pushed between her legs, pressing tight right where she wanted him to be. He tilted her face back and dragged his lips along the line of her jaw. “We shouldn’t…”

Just get in the shower with me
, she instructed him in his mind.

He tilted his head to meet her gaze, appraising her offer. Something dark passed over his expression. “We would fall right into the gods’ plans.”

She leaned forward and teased his nipple with her tongue. “They are gods. We are not. Let’s face it, they’re going to win.” She glanced upward and thought to him,
Don’t you want me?

“I always want you. Never doubt that.” His dilated eyes filled with hot intent. One of his hands cupped her breast beneath the robe. His mouth moved slowly down her neck and chest toward that achy breast. He pushed the terrycloth to the floor. She jumped when his mouth sucked in her nipple, grazing it with his teeth. He switched to the other breast suckling and keeping her on edge with his teeth while his hands moved to his pants. He slid them over his hips and off.

He wrapped his arms tight around her waist. With a lean-in, he swept his tongue into her mouth for a deep kiss. Everything else faded away—old losses, new stressors, misunderstandings, and disappointment. All that mattered was this. Connecting. All she needed was him.

He changed the angle of his kiss, licked into her mouth with long, deep strokes, and gripped her ass in both hands. He pushed her under the streaming shower jets and lifted, sliding deep inside her. They groaned in unison. He eased back from her mouth and started to slide in and out.

“Look at me, Astrid,” he ordered.

She fought to tear open her lids and lock onto his blue eyes. A vision of Kane’s eyes swam in front of her, blurring for a moment with Zannis’s eyes. Their color was…the same? Confused, she double blinked and focused on the black sludge swirling over Zannis’s blue irises. Kane didn’t have that. Her body wanted Zannis deep inside her, but her mind tortured her with Kane’s smile. She closed off all thought and focused on feeling.

Zannis thrust deep. She moaned and pulled him close for a deep kiss. He rocked his pelvis against hers until she saw stars. Everything inside her broke wide open. White light erupted in her brain and sent tremors through every limb.