~
Dalton didn’t know how much time passed before he found the memory. He was standing with her in what appeared to be the dark forest and he was holding his hand out to her. This was obviously a dream of some sort, he’d only spoken to her by her bedside. She seemed hesitant at first, but once she took his hand she suddenly surrendered herself to him. His shoulders tensed as he watched himself kiss her neck. Why was he becoming jealous of her dream? Perhaps, she had unknowingly plucked a picture of his appearance from his own mind and then dreamt of him. Since that was probably the answer, why on earth did he want to rip his dream self off of Jewel and beat himself to a bloody pulp? Suddenly he, the Dalton in her dream, looked up at him. He and the dream Dalton locked eyes and a wicked smile spread across the apparition’s face. And just before the real Dalton was pushed from her mind, he saw one of the black eyes of his dream self wink at him.
“What the hell?” he growled as he shook his head. He rubbed a hand across his forehead and down his face as he tried to calm his churning insides. Something wasn’t right. The Dalton in Jewel’s dream wasn’t him. It couldn’t have been. Because if she had taken an image of him from his mind, then she would have dreamt of him with pale blue eyes, not black obsidian ones. As he stared down at his mate’s sleeping form, he could smell his blood in her as it flowed through her veins. It somewhat calmed him and his wolf after having watched another man, though appearing like him in every way save the eyes, paw and kiss on their mate.
“Why do you look like someone just snuck tapeworms into your spaghetti bowl?” Peri’s sharp tone pierced the quiet room. He had gotten used to her sudden appearances and didn’t jump at her intrusion. Rather he became mildly annoyed at her willingness to sneak up on an unpredictable beast.
He could retort at her descriptive and disturbing question, but he didn’t make a habit of engaging others in meaningless conversation. Instead he simply answered the real question she was asking, what was wrong?
“Something isn’t right with Jewel.”
“You’re a little slow on the uptake if you are just now figuring that out.”
He ignored her sarcasm because ultimately he knew that Peri cared, no matter how flippant she sounded. “I just saw myself in her mind’s eye, but she should not have known what I looked like,” he explained. He didn’t go into the details of how intimate the encounter had been. That was not for Perizada to know and he would never want to make Jewel feel as though he had revealed private matters about them.
Dalton looked up to see Peri walking towards the window staring out into the forest. She was beautiful and young looking despite her age, but in that moment as the moon’s glow illuminated her face, he saw how tired the high fae truly was. The burden of being one so powerful could not be an easy load, and he found that he was glad that the Great Luna had seen fit to give Peri a mate. Lucian was a formidable male; he would be able to bear anything that his female could not on her own.
“Did she say it was a dream?” Peri finally spoke.
“No, she thought that it was me coming to her through the bond. It wasn’t.”
Peri nodded as her eyes narrowed. “That clever, clever son of a fairy,” she growled.
Dalton watched in surprise as the space around the fae began to pulse with a soft light and her form seemed to grow. As she turned to face him, he saw the power that she kept so dutifully caged as it unfurled before him. He didn’t fear her, but he could understand how others would.
“Perizada,” Lucian’s deep voice rumbled from the doorway.
“I thought he was trying to figure out his next move,” her voice shook with indignation. “I thought we had thrown him off his proverbial game. I couldn’t have been more wrong.” Her eyes shifted to Jewel’s sleeping form. “He was just laying low, biding his time until he had way to access what he wants―what he needs.”
“What are you talking about?” Dalton stood up slowly, his protective instincts firing on all cylinders.
“Some powerful beings can use a mate bond, Dalton, especially in one who has no clue how to protect it.” Peri’s words crashed into his chest like a battering ram.
He looked down at his female and then back up at Peri who was still glowing. “Volcan.” His voice sounded dark even to himself. “He’s using our bond?”
“You have to shut it down.” Her voice was hard as steel as she met his eyes, and even with his wolf peering out of them, she didn’t back down.
“It’s not a damn machine, I can’t just shut it down.”
“Then it has to be broken.”
“No. I just got her.” Dalton took a step towards Peri just as Lucian stepped in front of his mate.
“Then you will lose her.” Lucian’s voice was cool as he looked from Jewel to Dalton. “If he has access to her mind through your mate bond, then he has access to her soul and to her power. He will use her against us.”
Dalton felt as if every ounce of air had been shoved from his lungs as Lucian’s words sunk in. What they were asking of him went against every instinct he had. He understood their reasoning, but something felt wrong. Something inside of him was telling him not to allow their bond to be broken. He didn’t even know if anyone other than the Great Luna could do such a thing, and he knew there was no way he could ever get those words to leave his mouth in order to ask her to do it. His eyes dropped to Jewel. Ours, his wolf rumbled in his mind. Yes, he agreed. We will protect her. We will not let the sorcerer touch her. His wolf was so certain, so sure of his ability to take care of their mate. I will not allow the bond to be taken from us. He was surprised to hear the complete confidence in his beast’s words and Dalton believed him. The control that his wolf seemed to have over them both was powerful, and he knew that he would fight him with everything in him if Dalton pursued having the bond between he and Jewel severed.
“Dalton, did you hear us?” Peri’s voice drew his attention away from his wolf.
“I will not let the bond be severed. Jewel is mine, she stays with me, connected to me.”
The light faded from around the fae, and the weariness that Dalton had seen in her only moments ago returned. Peri placed her hand on her mate’s arm as her weary eyes met Dalton’s. She flashed them from the room, her final words trailing behind her. “Then you doom us all.”
Chapter 8
“He’s coming for me. I can feel him even before I see him. There is a darkness in him. I can feel it. Something inside me knows that I should be afraid, that I should run from him. But then he touches me and I’m lost. Nothing matters but him. I want nothing more than to make him happy, to give him everything that he wants. But as I look in his black eyes I know deep down that it’s not enough; I am not enough.” ~Jewel
“You came back,” Jewel soft voice filled the small room. She looked around and saw that she was in some sort of study. The walls were lined with books and on the far wall was a hearth with a warm fire glowing in its bowels.
“I will always come for you,” Dalton told her as he took a step towards her.
“Where are we?”
Dalton looked around the room and then back to her. A warm smile stretched across his sensual lips. “A room I designed for you. You like books, like to escape into them?”
Jewel nodded and felt the heat of her blush on her face.
“This is one of the rooms in the home I built for us. I want you with me. You belong with me.” His voice shook with the intensity of his emotions.
When Jewel looked up into his dark eyes, she expected to see desire, but what she saw had her taking a step back. In that moment, as their gaze held, she didn’t see the man who had been coming to her night after night, speaking with her, pouring out his soul to her. No, what she saw was something dark and sinister and it wanted her.
“Do I scare you, Little Dove?” he asked her as his lips twitched up in a sardonic smile.
Jewel shook her head. “No.”
“Then why do you back away from me?”
She turned her
head, gazing around the room. “I simply wanted some space to explore the room you made for me.” She kept him in her peripheral as she began to slowly make her way around the room. She knew it wasn’t real and yet when she reached out a hand to touch the spines of the books on the shelves, she could feel the roughness. It seemed so very real and not just in her mind. As she pulled one of the books off the shelf and opened it, she lifted it to her nose and took in a deep breath. As the scent of the pages hit her, she realized just how powerful the mind truly was. The book felt tangible, and even smelled like dusty old pages, even as she told herself over and over that it wasn’t.
“Do you like it?” His rich voice warmed her insides and she had to remind herself that this was not Dalton. His breath on her neck had those thoughts disintegrating, and when his lips touched her skin, she nearly dropped the book she held.
“It’s lovely,” Jewel whispered. She fought the urge to lean back into him, but she lost that battle as soon as his arms wrapped around her from behind and drew her into his strong body. She laid her head back against his chest and closed her eyes. The book slipped from her hands when his teeth grazed the tendon in her neck. Jewel gripped his hands that were pressed firmly against her stomach and bit her bottom lip so hard that she tasted blood. Not real, she told herself.
“Isn’t it?” Dalton murmured in her ear. “I assure you we are both real, my love. Do I need to convince you?”
He released her and Jewel had to clamp her lips tight to keep the protest from leaping out. She didn’t want him to stop touching her. Thankfully she got her wish when he turned her to face him and cupped her face gently in his large, warm hands. His tongue slipped out and moistened his lips, and she found herself leaning closer to him as she followed the motion. Dalton’s warm chuckle at her obvious desire had her attempting to duck her head but his hands prevented her from moving.
“I’m glad that you want me,” he told her gently as his thumb ran lightly across her bottom lip. “I want you and I’m not ashamed of that. I want to taste you, Jewel.” He leaned down closer to her mouth, and she could feel his breath on her as he continued to speak. “I want to explore every inch of your mouth, and when I’m done, I want to start all over again.”
Jewel was speechless. No one had ever expressed such desire for her, and no one had ever sparked such longing inside of her. She was trying to think of reasons why she shouldn’t let him kiss her, especially not as thoroughly as he just described. But as his fingers sank into her hair, and as he drew her lips to his, her mind went blank. His lips grazed her softly at first but then he let out a low growl and pressed them more firmly to hers. She needed to breathe and as she parted her lips to do just that, Dalton took advantage and his warm tongue swept into her mouth like a thief stealing any willpower she might have had left. She leaned into him, pressing her body shamelessly against his. His hands left her hair only to grab her hips, pulling her impossibly closer. Jewel was pretty sure he no longer just wanted a taste; he wanted the whole dang meal. She felt his tongue outlining her gums and then sweep across the roof of her mouth, and a shudder worked its way down her.
“Dalton,” she breathed out as he nipped her bottom lip only to return full force, invading, claiming, and marking her mouth as his domain. She knew she needed to stop things, because regardless of whether this was happening only in her mind, she still wasn’t ready to go further. As one of his hands trailed up from her hip along her rib cage, his thumb brushed lightly against the side of her breast until he was cupping her jaw and tilting her head to the side. Jewel was pretty sure she was going to pass out.
“You taste incredible,” he breathed against her neck and then ran his tongue from her collar bone up to just below her ear.
“We should stop,” she heard herself whisper breathlessly and even she heard the lack of conviction in her voice.
“Do you have somewhere else to be?” he teased.
She giggled nervously but it turned into a deep, husky moan as his teeth sank into her flesh. It wasn’t hard enough to break the skin, but she knew it would leave a mark, or if it had been real it would have anyway.
“I won’t take anything you don’t want to give me, Jewel,” Dalton told her as he released her skin. He licked the small wound and pressed a warm kiss there. “What will you give me, Little Dove?”
Jewel’s head tilted back as Dalton’s nose skimmed along her neck and down around her collarbone and lower still.
“I have nothing to give,” she murmured. “I’m broken, lost in the safety of my mind. I’m not what you need. You deserve more.” Jewel hadn’t expected those words to leave her mouth. The thoughts had been slowly forming in her mind over the past few days as Dalton sat with her and talked to her. How could she be any sort of mate, or whatever, to him? He was strong, a powerful being made by a Creator who had plans for him, and she was a teenage human who had been sucked dry, literally, by a dark fae. He had his own wounds and she was in no place to help him deal with those things. He needed a healthy, strong woman who could help him bear the burdens he had carried for so long on his own. Jewel knew she would just be one more added burden that he didn’t need.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Jewel Stone,” he said in a much different tone than the sultry one he had been using. “You have so very much that I want and need. And I have what you need. I have seen the things you endured in your mind. I have seen how those humans treated you, shunned you, and left you alone. I can make you strong, Little Dove. I can make you powerful and knowledgeable about things you couldn’t even imagine. You need me, love. Let me give you what you need. Let me have what I need.”
Her eyes snapped open as she looked up at him, and for an instant it wasn’t Dalton standing there holding her. The black eyes that stared back at her held no affection for her. His pale skin was stretched too thin across his bones, and the sharp angles in his cheek bones just accentuated his emaciation. His lips had a bluish hue to them and were no longer plump and full but rather thin and severe. She blinked and the disturbing male was gone and Dalton was once again looking down at her. Jewel tried to control her reaction as her brain raced to catch up to what her eyes had just seen. Suddenly she knew that it was imperative that she wake up. Maybe she couldn’t regain consciousness, but she could get out of the sleep induced state.
“WAKE UP, JEWEL!” she screamed inside of her head. She squeezed her eyes closed and mentally cried out to her Dalton. “DALTON! Please hear me.
Dalton stared down in shock as he watched a red mark appear on the side of Jewel’s neck. As he leaned closer he saw the outline of teeth.
“Bloody hell!” he snarled under his breath. What was going on? What madness had invaded the darkness his sweet Jewel was already enduring?
“Jewel, wake up, Little Dove. It’s not me; please hear me, whoever you are with, it’s not me.” He reached into their bond searching for her, and just like before it was blank, as if a cord connected to him stretched out into the darkness forever. She was just gone.
“DAMMIT!” His hand came down hard on the side table causing the wood to split under the force of his anger. He felt helpless. What kind of mate was he if he couldn’t protect his female? How on earth would she ever trust him, rely on him, if he couldn’t take care of her? His wolf paced restlessly inside of him. He wanted the flesh of Volcan between his teeth. He wanted to hear his cries as man and wolf tore tendon and muscle from bone until all the life left his evil body.
Dalton’s head whipped around when he heard Jewel whimper. He was at her side in a single stride, cupping her cheeks in his hands. Her skin was flushed and her lips trembled. He had no idea what she was going through, no idea what Volcan was doing to her. All he could do was stand there like a helpless human and watch as his mate was invaded, violated by a mad man. Great Luna, hear me, please bring her back. I can’t lose her, not when I’ve just found her.
“DALTON! Please hear me.” Her voice flooded his mind as he felt the bond snap back into place. His heart
pounded painfully in his chest as her emotions crashed into him. He sensed fear mixed with curiosity and, of all things, lust. Dammit all, he thought, why on earth did he feel lust pouring off of his mate when he hadn’t been the one touching her? He forced himself to ignore his heated jealousy and listen to her as she rapidly poured information into his mind.
“Dalton, it’s Volcan. At first I thought it was you. He made me think it was you. Oh my, the things we . . . and what I told you . . . and where you . . . holy crap, it wasn’t you; if I could be sick right now, I would be puking,” Jewel admitted.
Her voice shook and even in his mind her fear came through loud and clear. He now understood why she had been so shy with him; she had been talking with him, or so she thought. She had been using the bond to feel and smell and taste him, but it wasn’t him. The thought made him want to puke as well. The thought of her sharing anything intimate, whether it be words or touch with another, enraged him to a new level. He had to tell himself and his wolf that it wasn’t real and it wasn’t her fault. He was in no way angry with Jewel, but when he got his claws on Volcan, there would be nothing recognizable left.
“He’s calling to me. Even now, he keeps telling me he wants me, that I’m his.” she continued. “He keeps telling me that he can make me strong and that I will never have to endure ridicule again.”
Dalton wasn’t surprised that the sorcerer had found a weakness in Jewel and was feeding it and tempting her with acceptance, power, and knowledge. All things that anyone who had gone through as much as Jewel had would find appealing.
“He’s using the bond, Jewel. Somehow, when our bond opened, he was able to access it. You have to shut it down,” he urged her, though it was the last thing he wanted her to do. He still didn’t feel like it was the right thing to do, but he didn’t know how else to protect her, and he didn’t want Volcan’s hands on his mate, mentally or otherwise. Jewel was his and he wouldn’t share her in any capacity, nor would he have her first experiences being tainted in such a vulgar way. “I need you to listen to me. I’m going to teach you how to build a wall in your mind between you and me. You will need to make it high and strong so no one can get through.”