Chapter 10
Rykr’s home, Earth
“Damn it, Ophelia. Go back to the manor.”
“I will when someone comes to replace me,” his aunt said calmly, staring up at him with her arms crossed over her chest. “You do realize that I’m far more capable of protecting you both than nearly anyone else. Unless you’d like my mother or father here. Or maybe yours.”
He blew out a frustrated breath. “I’m not questioning your abilities. I just don’t like that you’re out here alone. Someone should be here any second.”
It was an ingrained instinct to protect females, no matter how powerful they were. It was a constant battle all the males in his life went through. His father had plenty of stories about getting his ass handed to him by his Guardian sisters over the millennia of their lives.
“You were wrong about all of this, Rykr,” she added while he was lost in thought.
“Was I?” He actually missed Ophelia. They’d been close once. After his curse, he’d kept himself apart from everyone, barely spending any time with his extended family for nearly a decade.
“Lucy deserved a choice.”
“She wouldn’t curse me any more than I’m willing to curse her, Ophelia. Being overprotective of those you love isn’t limited to one sex.”
She nodded, but he saw sadness in her eyes. “You’re upset that I didn’t tell you.”
“Yes.” Ophelia sighed. “I know why you did it. I just hate that you shut us all out. We’re your family, too. We would have been there for you. I would have been there for you.”
“I know. And you would have been in a shitty situation. I would have made you vow to keep my secret from Lucy.”
Pursing her lips, she chastised him. “You would do anything to protect her from this even though the bond with her could save you?”
“I’d fucking light myself on fire to protect her from this.” But if that were true, then he shouldn’t have let her catch him. But he wasn’t going to think about that now.
Ophelia gave him a hard look. “Remember that.”
Her lecture wasn’t going to get her anywhere, but he appreciated the attempt. Before he could answer her, she added, “Go to your mate. I’ll leave when someone else is here to take my spot.”
Rykr shook his head and went back inside. His father was already working on getting a replacement guard, someone who wasn’t blood-related to either Lucy or himself. But he’d wanted to tell Ophelia she could leave before another guard arrived.
He walked through the living room and was struck by the scent of sex slipping from his room. He stifled the lust that hit him now that he was close to her again.
He ran a hand over his face when he caught sight of her sexy ass and the softly glowing runes down her back. She was just inside the balcony door, using her power to draw the salty breeze into the room. That skill came from her mother, and her earth skills came from her warhorse half.
He knew he’d manifest a warhorse to match her beast after their mating was complete. That was the nature of bonding with a shifting Immortal and something he hadn’t thought about for a long time. His wings weren’t attached to a beast form. They were a gift from his grandfather, something passed down through the generations of Hades’s bloodline. She wouldn’t get a set in the mating. Instead, she’d likely get demons. He tried not to be bothered by the fact that the bastards were so damned silent. Part of him was glad. Another was suspicious as hell.
As she turned to him, her hair shifted in wild waves around her beautiful, flushed face. Her eyes were glassy as she sucked in a breath. When her hand went to her stomach, he was there.
“What is it? Pain?”
Her breathing was ragged, and lust glazed her beautiful green eyes. “I need you again, Rykr.”
He lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed as he cursed his fucking bloodline. She melted into him, her face instantly nuzzling his neck. “This hurts worse than they said it would.”
His jaw clenched tight. “It was like this for my parents, Lucy.”
She looked up at him, regret and need warring on her face as she bit her lip. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have forced you into this.”
“And I shouldn’t have let you. No more guilt, love.”
He’d felt her first sharp spear of pain through the link and thanked the Creators that his touch eased it. He kissed her, and her fingers dug into his hair as she tangled her tongue with his.
She was so sweet. He deepened the kiss while easing her to the bed. She clung to him, digging her nails into his skin, shifting her thighs over his hips, opening for him eagerly. He entered her with one deep thrust that broke the kiss as they groaned.
For the next hour, they were caught in a haze of passion and tangled limbs.
***
Rykr rolled to his back and took her with him, draping her over his chest the way he liked.
She sighed. “I truly had no idea it would feel this incredible.”
He grunted, but his mind was reeling. He wouldn’t have time to do anything about the curse at this rate.
She yawned, and he smiled down at her. “Sleep, Lucy.”
“Just for a minute,” she whispered, and then she was out.
He stared at the ceiling and let himself feel the peace that came from the way their heartbeats synced up. The demons were still silent, but his soul wasn’t. He only hoped that she was right about her power releasing the demons.
Is there any news? he asked his father.
Nothing. I’m sorry.
He was restless with the need to do something, but there wasn’t anything he could do. The cave hadn’t given them any clues. He was stuck and running out of time. The thought of the demons touching her soul made him rabid. All he could do was pray that she was right and fate was on their side.
He wasn’t sure how long she slept, but it wasn’t long. When she woke, it was with a pained moan that nearly broke him. The fact that she felt pain while he was holding her meant the frenzy was at a dangerous point. She needed more than just his touch now. His dick had been hard and waiting for what felt like an eternity, but he wanted her to have all the rest she could get. It was a good thing she’d slept, because they were going to have to end this soon.
Her thigh slid from his leg to his cock, and he felt her silky tongue rasp over his nipple.
With a deep groan, he rolled her to her back and captured her lips with his. Her fingers tugged his short hair.
Through their link, she whispered, I thought it was just a dream. He loved her voice in his mind too damned much. The bond between them was strengthening and growing each time they connected.
He sat up, gazing down at her. His Lucy. His mate. They were already bonded in so many ways. They just had to finish it. His thumb slid over her lips, and his eyes searched hers. The soft green depths held the knowledge of what needed to happen next, but he needed to be sure. “You know we’ve run out of time?”
She nodded. “I love you, Rykr. No matter what happens, we’ll get through it and be together.”
He kissed her again before saying against her lips, “I love you, too. I always have.” He groaned, hating that this moment could be fucking dangerous for her when it should have been something else. He would make it up to her, for all eternity.
With a breath, he stared into her eyes as he let his vows to her slide through their bond. I vow to honor and care for you with my body, soul, and blood for all eternity, my sweet Lucy. The ancient words had power of their own, and he let it settle over them.
A tear slipped into her hair as she whispered the same vow back in his mind.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
Swiping away the tears, she nodded. “Yes.”
He shifted to his back so as not to crush her during the next step.
He bit his tongue hard enough that it bled, then did the same to her lip. There was no getting around the blood bond that would allow her to see all his best and worst memories. He sucked away the sting on her lip before giving her his tongue. She tasted so sweet he groaned. Her accompanying moan was the last thing he heard before he was lost in a haze of memories.
It was odd, like having a movie in his mind. There were flashes and flashes of sweet Lucy as a child with her parents and brother. With him. Her holding the baby version of himself when she was a child. She smiled down and told him she loved him, and he felt it somehow. He felt what the child version of his mate was feeling in that moment. He also saw the delight on her precious face. It was so sweet and innocent that it brought thoughts of having kids of his own. Maybe a little girl with wild chestnut hair and big pale-green eyes.
So many of her memories were of him. Of them playing and laughing as kids. Of her family and her little brother racing in their warhorse form. Of her father promising her anything she wanted as he snuggled her into his warm, comforting chest. It was all laid out for him to see. And feel.
Another flash of memory came, this time of her capturing the six-year-old version of him in a bubble of her power. That was what it had always looked like to him—bubbles. He mentally smiled at that. Such power, yet it looked so sweet and innocent, like she was. He saw himself floating in it, his small wings out, a huge smile on his face as he braced his hands on the barrier surrounding him.
He remembered that moment perfectly. He’d stared back at her like she held the moon, basking in the warmth and love in the power that surrounded him.
Then he was in her memories as the healers and their parents spoke to her. When she was first told why she felt so close to Rykr. They were mates. She didn’t truly understand, only that he was hers forever and that made her happy. He felt his invisible self smiling wide at her thoughts.
Another memory came of her at about ten or eleven, begging her parents to take her to Hell Realm. She’d heard about the beasts and wanted to see them for herself. She wanted to help them like she wanted to help every single wounded animal that ventured into her path. Beasts always sought her out.
Her parents denied her, and she became distraught and frustrated. He ached for her, and obviously, his mother’s cats felt the same. He saw the massive black beasts he’d grown up with and loved as they nudged a sad Lucy. They were huge compared to her. She talked to them, begging them to take her to Hell.
She was so beautiful inside and out, and so damned stubborn.
This was killing him.
She wasn’t even a teenager, but her need to help was so intense she couldn’t and wouldn’t deny any creature her ability.
His heart felt too big in his chest as he watched the small female reform on a mountain in Hell Realm, his mother’s cats having taken her there. They stayed to guard their charge. Violent, red-eyed creatures ascended from the forest below, flames licking the ground as they stalked toward her. There was darkness all around them. The taint of evil and sulphur reeked, but she wasn’t scared. Small Lucy was there to help them, and the cats would never allow them to harm her.
He smiled at her complete and utter confidence, not only in her own ability, but in the beasts at her side. She was right. The cats were incredibly powerful beings of Thule who would destroy anything that threatened her. The beasts sat regally at her side as the Hell beasts were suddenly surrounded in her power. Bubbles lifting in the air, holding the massive red-eyed creatures up as the hounds and the spined beasts screeched in fury. After long moments they stopped struggling in the confines of her light. She smiled fondly at them. “See, it makes you feel better.”
Before long, a black Hell dragon swooped down from the skies, and one of the cats hissed up at it in warning and fury. The beast hit a clear shield so strong its pained cry rang out into the Realm. The black wings snapped as the massive body crashed into the trees below. The impact shook the ground beneath Lucy’s booted feet. It wouldn’t stay down; it would heal. He felt that in her mind.
Lucy absently patted Spa’s and Velspar’s silky feline heads as she continued her task. He felt her power draining after a while, and obviously, so had the cats, because they teleported a protesting Lucy back home.
How he ached for her lost power, especially feeling how it had been for her. He hoped it was back to stay.
Another flash of memory came quickly. It was of her laughing as Rykr carried her into the skies. He’d always been big as a kid, so at eight, he easily matched her size. Even then, he loved holding her. He remembered that moment just as clearly as she did. They were both laughing as he spun them around and did tricks that whipped her long hair over them both. He could feel her joy, the utter bliss at being in the air with him.
It made him want to take the grown version of her flying right now.
There were more memories of her family, of him, of Hell Realm trips, and thousands of beasts.
The cats snuck her there through the years until she could finally teleport herself. They still watched over her, but she pushed herself even when they weren’t around. That was when her parents found out.
Rykr frowned at how drained she’d been when her father carried her out of Hell. Rykr had known her secret and had even made her promise not to go alone, but she had. And she’d kept it from him. She could have been hurt. The creatures there were still fierce and feral even after being healed, but it seemed she’d earned their loyalty. Many healed creatures surrounded her, guarding her from the others while her parents teleported her out of there.
More memories blasted through him.
The worst was when her power dwindled before slipping away completely. He still believed it had to do with the last Hell beast being healed. But if that were true, then it shouldn’t have come back now. The demons had been alive then, as well. That meant his theory had flaws.
More flashes slipped by of his beautiful female as she grew older. Including the last day he’d seen her at the lake. She’d been so sad, and it killed him to see her crying in the flowers he’d brought for her.
Seeing that nearly ripped his heart out.
He was thrown into another memory too fast to dwell on his mistakes. He was there, in her mind’s eye, a week after her twentieth birthday, when she had a female healer at Slake tattoo the flowers permanently on her skin. It was different than getting human ink. This was done with power, completely permanent for all eternity. And all for him. He mentally groaned all over again. The proof was there in her thoughts and emotions.
More memories hit him in rapid succession. She’d dreamed of him night after night, touching herself when she’d seen images of him as an adult. She’d missed him as much as he’d missed her for all these years. Then he saw himself at the lake, telling her about his curse. Saw his mother spelling her back. Felt all her pain and worry. Her determination.
A second later, he was seeing something else. Lucy was in the same green dress. It was before she came to his house.
Ophelia handed Lucy the heart-shaped necklace he’d seen her wearing.
“I filled this with drops of Aletheia venom.” He would be snarling if he was in his body. His mother spelling her with runes and giving up his location was one thing. His aunt, who was like a sister, giving her “vampire” venom to drug him was crossing a line.
Lucy’s mouth slid open. He felt her sadness as she asked, “You think I’ll need to drug him?”
“To finish it, yes. I’m not sure even the frenzy will be enough for him to follow through with the bond, not until the frenzy drives you both nearly mad, which likely won’t happen for weeks. If you truly want to end this tonight, you’ll likely need the venom. It’s concentrated, and I laced it with a special compulsion spell. It’s incredibly strong.” She paused for a moment. “He may hate you for a while.” He couldn’t hate Lucy. He was going to rip into Ophelia, though.
Lucy sat heavily on the bed, looking at the necklace. “He’s already going to hate me for forcing the rest of it.”
“It’s not as if he’s giving you any good choices, Lucy. He’ll fight you on the last step to the soul bond. He’ll try for more time. And then what? Neither of you will be in top shape while in the frenzy.” His aunt shook her head before hammering another nail into his coffin. “He’s my family, Lucy. I don’t want him anywhere near anything to do with Artemis. If there is a chance you can break the bonds to the demons, I think it’s worth incurring his wrath for a while. You know as well as I do that Artemis was the epitome of evil. The Goddess was known for her love of pain and tricks. If the demons were ruled by her, then later by her sick sons, this David might be leading Rykr into something far worse than soul-deep pain. This demon may truly want freedom for his kind, but at what cost?”
“You’re right.” They’d plotted against him.
“There’s more,” his traitorous aunt added. “The necklace is spelled with an illusion. It’s pure copper, and if you secure his wrists with it, he should be at your mercy.” Copper would definitely have drained his Thulian half.
Mother fuck!
Ophelia’s hard stare seemed to be meant for him. “Just help him.”
She hadn’t wanted to do it. She knew it was wrong, but she still took the fucking necklace.
Then he saw a time later, after Lucy had come to him. He felt her pure pleasure at his touch. The relief and sadness. The love.
He also felt her guilt. Felt her resolve not to drug or bind him. Good thing. Coming to him and forcing his touch was one thing, especially when he was powerful enough that he could have left his house before she’d done it. But drugging him?
And then he was in all the moments of their passion. He mentally groaned at how it made her feel.
The sweetness of his oath to her.
Love. So much overwhelming love he felt it bursting from her.