Shattered Soul (25 page)

“Don’t fight me, Rani,” Fredrico warned. “I’m the only thing between you and The Overlord. Fight me too much and he’ll want to see you hurting.”

“If he faced me hand-to-hand - ”

“This is not the kind of combat zone you’re used to.” Looking down into her furious face, he caught the flicker in her eyes. “Don’t try - ”

Too late. Her knee caught him in the chest, throwing him backwards, and he crashed to the floor.

Rani was up fast, rolling off the bed and snatching the dagger that lay on the little bedside table. Before he could get to his feet, she was upon him, the dagger flashing down to rest unerringly against his throat.

Lying on top of him, she pressed the dagger a little harder and he felt the nick of it on his skin, just as he felt the little bead of blood well up and slip down his throat.

Just as he felt every warm curve of her pressed against his body.

Now his fury had competition. Lust, brought forth by the violence and darkness, surged up inside him and combined with the fury it made for a deadly combination. He recognized it instantly.

Maintaining his calm, even as fury and lust battled for supremacy, he looked up into her glittering eyes. “Get off me.”

“Scared, pirate?” Rani’s hold on the dagger didn’t falter.

“You should be the one scared.”

“And yet I’m not.”t I’m”

“I have power to punish you as I see fit.”

“You do look powerful lying there beneath me.” Lowering her head a little, her voice whisper soft and warm against his face, she added, “Going to call the demon horde to help you, pirate? Going to call Phemar to come and rescue your hide from me? Do you need The Overlord to help punish me?”

“Is it punishment you’re wanting?” He felt that lust beat a stark tattoo low down in his loins. “Because you’re pushing all the right buttons, warrior.”

“Maybe I’m just tired of the threats. Face me like a man, without your back-up, and see what you can do.” She pressed harder with the dagger, a definite threat. “Face me like a mortal, pirate.”

She was pushing him, trying to goad him into a fight.
Why?
Even as lust slid through him, dark and deep and demanding, he scanned her face, trying to figure out this further show of rebellion.

And then he found it. As he gazed up into the green eyes, felt the threat of the dagger at his throat, the pressure so dangerously close to letting the blade slice deep, he realized.

Realized, because he’d faced this himself, only he’d reacted a lot calmer than this Reeka.

She was trying to regain control. Rani didn’t like feeling helpless and she sought to regain her footing in the only way she knew how to in this fortress of the damned. Fredrico, a space pirate, wasn’t so different from her... or so she thought. Fight and best him, and she regained control. She became the controller.

It was a dangerous game and one he couldn’t let her win.

In one dark push he sent the power he held against her, using it to force her hand away so that she landed flat against his chest, her face inches from his.

Shocked, she stared into his eyes.

She felt so warm, so soft, against him. A warrior, but a woman.

The darkness that he released surged inside him, and in one move he spun them over so she was beneath him.

Give the warrior credit, she recovered quickly, twisting just as fast to put him beneath her once again.

They rolled across the floor, each struggling for control. He could have ended it so easily but he wanted to see how far she’d go, how hard she’d fight. How far he’d go with her.

How much she’d take.

If she’d take him, as he took her, hard and fast and furiously.

Dangerous thoughts, his lust threatening to overtake his control, his fury at her earlier actions and defiance just making his lust hotter.

He actually laughed aloud, the sound dark, almost ugly, and he watched in delight as her eyes narrowed.

She punched him hard across the jaw but he barely felt it. Her knee connected with his stomach and he blew air out to help absorb the blow. He allowed her to fight, going with the blows, feeling each struggle, enjoying watching her as she fought. Enjoying feeling her writhing against him.

Enjoying her helplessness.

Did she truly think she, an untrained novice of dark powers, could actually beat him, the man who had had several years of training in controlling the darkness inside him?

She is the prey, I’m the predator, and her surrender will be mine to saved, mine tour and enjoy.

He pushed at her darkness, using it to disorientate her, and when her hair spilled over his face as they rolled yet again, her fragrance spilled into his senses.

He had to have her now.

One more swift role, a fast change of position, and she was under him again, this time on her stomach. Knotting one hand into that wealth of hair, he held her still as she gasped for breath beneath him.

Such a position of submission
.  The very thought, the very knowledge, made the darkness inside him roil up.

“Do your worse,” she gritted out, her hands braced on the floor before her as she tried to push upwards.

“Oh, my dear,” he said softly, the darkness in his low voice spilling into the room, “You have no idea what my worse is.” Tugging on her hair, he pulled her head up until the back of it was snug against his shoulder. Resting his cheek against hers, he whispered, “But you will.” His hips thrust against her and the sensation of her rounded bottom against his groin made his blood hot.

“You bastard,” she whispered. “You can take me, but you’ll never own me.”

“Once I take you, warrior, you’ll be mine.” He inhaled deeply. “You smell so sweet, so fresh and innocent. You inflame my senses like nothing has ever done for such a long time.”

In this hellhole he’d never been attracted to any of the women. Cold bitches who’d slice a man’s throat as soon as look at him, bath in his blood, and more than likely cook his flesh for dinner and then feed his bones to the dog, the bones she didn’t keep with which to make a tasty stock.

This warrior, this woman, didn’t have that coldness. Fiery, hot, rebellious. Kill a man if she had to and then walk away.

A prize in this hellhole.

His prize.

To take, to bury himself deep inside of, to savour. To own.

His hand was at the waistband of her split skirt, the fever of carnal desire heated by the infernal darkness of which he’d allowed loose. The darkness that crept over his thoughts, his consciousness.

And deep inside himself he watched, helpless and horrified.

::No! No, I must stop! No!::

The darkness swirled, sweeping past him, and he watched with fisted hands as he raked his mouth hotly over Rani’s throat, her vulnerable position making it so easy to touch her so hotly, so harshly.

::No!:: He sought to draw back the darkness, but it was feeding off the malevolent darkness inside her, something he hadn’t known could happen.

His hand was sliding inside the waistband of her split skirt, and from where he was he heard her sobbing breaths.

He saw their darkness merge, mesh, pull at each other.

He saw her fear, her panic... and her own dark, rising lust.

::Oh God! Please, please! Stop me! Stop her! This can’t happen! Please!::

He saw his hand leave her hair, clench around her jaw and drag her face around to his. He kissed her hard, felt the answering desire in her even as she whimpered deep inside herself.

::Rani!::

He pushed forward, flinging is d, flinout his hand, trying to pull the darkness back.

And then he felt it, saw it, stared at it. A violet glow that slid through his darkness, a little ray of light in the denseness. It slithered through the darkness, slicing through it so easily. The darkness pulled back, flinching away.

He felt himself start to come together, felt his consciousness rise, the levels sludgy, pulling at him, but the violet light was like a rope, dragging him up and up, dragging him to the surface, regaining his mind, his control, his—

—kiss softened, deepened, and then he stopped abruptly, lifting his lips from hers to gaze down into her eyes.

What he saw chilled him at the same time relieved him.

Orange smoke hazed her green eyes, but through the orange came the violet glow. Where fear had been mixed with dark lust, the violet burst through, flooding her eyes, completely obliterating the orange smoke until her eyes were green once more.

Their breathing harsh, Fredrico and Rani stared at each other. The silence lengthened, heavy with unfulfilled desire, dense with fading lust. Uncomfortable.

Dangerous still.

Fredrico didn’t know what had happened, where the violet light had come from inside him, but he could only thank his lucky stars that it had come in time to prevent him... He shied away from the thought before it literally made him vomit.

“Fredrico...” Rani began hesitatingly.

In one smooth motion he pushed up to his knees, straddling her body briefly before lunging upward and striding rapidly for the door.

Once there he paused, his hand firmly clasped around the doorknob. Sucking in a deep breath, he said harshly, “Count yourself fortunate, warrior. This could have ended very ugly.”
For you
. Wrenching the door open, he strode through, barely resisting the urge to slam it shut.

Storming into his own room, he flung himself down in the big armchair, rested his elbow on the armrest, and dropped his forehead into his hand.

His blood still flowed hotly through him but he’d regained control of his darker side.
Thank God, thank God
. Sucking in several deep breaths, he fought the nausea threatening to overtake him.

He’d been so close to raping Rani. So very dangerously close.

He felt like vomiting. Screaming. Cursing.

All he could do was sit and thank God for whatever the violet light was that had helped him regain control.

All he could do was sit and wonder why his darkness had called to hers, and why he’d had to fight so hard, why he hadn’t been able to regain control of it.

A trained man, he’d never lost control of his darkness since learning to command it. It shouldn’t have happened, shouldn’t have escaped him. Shouldn’t have meshed with her darkness.

Something not-quite-right howled outside in the night, ending in a sobbing shriek that died away.

Nothing stirred in the fortress, no sound came from outside his room. No one knocked on his door. No enraged warrior came in with death in her eyes. Everything was so eerily, unnaturally silent.

The night drew later, passed the midnight hour and continued into the coldness of early morning.

Fredrico didn’t move once from his slumped position in the chairrenin the .

~ * ~

Acceli Healers

Ceri felt the threat and she moaned, trying to claw her way up out of the clinging grip of unconsciousness.

Nothingness floated around her, tendrils of misty fingers trailing soothingly along her skin. An alien chattering sounded far away. Deep voices lifted, a low, yet sweet, tune filling the air as men’s voices rose and fell.

And she slipped once more under a protecting blanket of unconsciousness.

~ * ~

Witches

Learta watched as Beulah came down the pathway. The hem of the witch woman’s grey gown should have dragged in the dirt but instead it floated just a fraction above it. Nothing soiled would touch her.

Smiling, Learta lifted her unveiled face to the sunshine and breathed deeply. There were very few people she bared her scarred face to, those among the privileged being Beulah.

Coming level with Learta, Beulah smiled. “She is safe.”

Learta took another deep breath of the fresh, clean air. “Ceri sleeps.”

“She won’t awaken until it’s over.”

“It is better this way. Isn’t it?”

“It’s the only way.” A star fell in the witch woman’s black eyes. “Her path is not the same as Rani’s. It is better this way.”

With a sigh, Learta fingered her veil. “The sisters would fight to the death for each other.”

“But it is not to be.” Beulah touched Learta’s shoulder lightly. “Strength is with each other, but it can also be crippling. There can be no obstacles, Learta.”

“I know.” Learta gracefully slipped the veil back over the lower half of her face. “I know.”

“It is safer for Ceri to sleep.” Beulah smiled slightly. “The Acceli’s will keep her safe from everyone and everything.” Another star fell in her eyes. “From darkness.”

~ * ~

Chapter 7

Inner Sanctum of the Outlaw Sector

Overlord’s Fortress

Sitting on the window seat, Rani looked out into the heavy, rain-laden night. On the other side of the far wall of her room she could almost feel Fredrico—a dark, smouldering, dangerous presence. And deep inside... deep inside that darkness was a man.

Just as deep inside of the darkness that was now a part of her, a woman stood.

Darkness surrounded them both, held them in black clutches, and behind their respective dark bars they both stood.

Waiting for something?

Reaching up, she traced a rivulet of rain down the glistening window pane, glad to see that her hand no longer trembled. Glad to knop> w that her breathing was even, steady, that she’d regained control of the black lust that had surged up out of her fear.

A dark attraction to the man who had almost consumed her, body and—

Rani veered away from that thought. Instead, she stared out at the wet night and thought about her latest realization.

Tonight a part of her had died. In the middle of the struggle with Fredrico, when their bodies had rubbed and fought against each other, that darkness, that black lust, that smouldering heat of desire, had risen and a part of herself had died. As she’d looked into those ruthless blue eyes she’d seen the darkness inside him, felt her own darkness well up... felt a part of her curl up and just die.