Rapture

  “You’re right,” he said after several heartbeats.

  Elora felt her heart begin to shatter into a million tiny pieces. She squeezed her hands into fists and welcomed the pain of her fingernails digging into her palms. He had said it; he agreed with her. Now she just had to be strong enough to let him walk away.

  “If all there was between us was the soul mate connection, it wouldn’t be enough,” he continued and she was barely listening because really all she wanted was for him to leave so she could curl up in a ball and cry like the girl she never claimed to be. “If the only thing that made us what we are to each other was the Chosen bond then I wouldn’t ask you to walk away from your life, but that’s not all there is and you know it. LOOK AT ME!” he yelled suddenly and Elora jumped.

  She turned slowly and her eyes landed on a very angry light-elf warrior. His eyes nearly glowed and his chest rose and fell quickly with his short breaths.

  “Tell me. Look me in the eyes, Elora, and tell me that you don’t love me.”

  “What?” she nearly shrieked at him.

  He took a step closer and another and another until he was less than a foot away from her. She had to tilt her head back to look up at his face and see his incredible beauty so close to her, only a breath away.

  “Tell me,” he whispered, “that you don’t love me. Tell me that the only thing between us is the link because you are my Chosen.”

  The words were on the tip of her tongue. She could lie; she reasoned with herself. It would be for his own good, after all, and it would be only a little lie. She nearly laughed out loud at that though because truthfully it would be the mother of all lies. She loved Cush. She loved everything that made him who he was right down to the stubborn tilt of his chin and the possessive flare that flipped his bitch switch.

  “And if you’re going to lie to me, please at least try to make it convincing,” he spoke up just as she took a breath to speak.

  She snapped her lips shut and glared at him. He shrugged his huge shoulders and then folded his arms across his broad chest, waiting.

  Elora wanted to stomp her feet and have a two year old moment, but she imagined herself having to tell Cassie all about it and decided that she wouldn’t give her best friend the pleasure of such a story. Instead she took a deep breath and considered her options. She could lie and try to be convincing, or she could tell him the truth and hope that he didn’t laugh at her. She cocked her head to the side and looked around his hulking frame to the door behind him. Or I could make a run for it, she thought. I could totally survive in Mexico on a beach somewhere. They make black bathing suits after all. Cush stepped to the side, effectively blocking her view of the door. Truth be told she couldn’t outrun him; he’d tackle her and then his amazing body would be on top of hers and one thing would lead to another. Her pulse picked up and she nearly grinned as she thought, okay, so running had its possibilities.

  “Little Raven,” Cush’s deep voice brought her back to the present, “are you going to answer me?”

  “I don’t,” she started and almost took a step back when his eyes narrowed dangerously. She cleared her throat. “I don’t have to lie.”

  “You’re saying you don’t love me?” he asked incredulously.

  “No, I’m saying that how I feel about you has never been in question. I said it shouldn’t be enough for you to just stay with me because I’m your Chosen,” she reminded him.

  His lips quirked up in that infuriating half smile as he spoke. “So you do love me?”

  “Dammit, Cush,” Elora finally growled in frustration. “I haven’t really said anything, you big ox. Other than, I didn’t think we should be together just because we were predestined. What are you saying? What do you want?” The last part came out much whinier than she wanted.

  “I told you that I wanted you.” His arms uncrossed and he reached for her, cupping her face in his large hands. “You are mine. Your soul belongs to me and mine belongs to you. You…,”

  “That’s not…,”

  “Hush,” he told her when she interrupted. “I wasn’t finished. You have captivated me with your fierce loyalty and incredible bravery. You dazzle me with your beauty and you humble me with your trust and I…love…you.”

  Elora swore that if his hands had not been on her face and his body so close to hers she would have fainted. He had said it.

  “What?” she breathed. So maybe she wanted to hear it again; sue her.

  “I love you, Little Raven. You are mine and if you think that I will let you walk away from me, to have your own life with someone else, then you do not fully grasp the possessiveness of a male of my race towards his Chosen.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked suddenly.

  “Am I sure that you don’t grasp the possessiveness?” he began but she waved him off.

  “No, not that you overgrown G.I. Joe. I mean are you sure you love me?”

  A grin spread across Cush’s face. “Yes, Elora, I’m sure.”

  She felt a tear drop from her eye and his thumb brushed it away. His face was slightly blurry from the unshed tears but she didn’t blink them away, she didn’t want to stop looking at him, not even for the length of time it would take her eyelids to close and reopen.

  “Do you have something to tell me?” he finally asked as he stared down at her.

  “I thought you already knew,” she teased.

  “Elora,” Cush growled.

  “I love you,” she said quickly. “I love everything about you and the idea of not being with you,” she choked back the sob. “The idea that you might not want me, gah, I feel like such a girl.” She reached up to wipe the tears away. When she opened her eyes and looked back up at Cush her breath caught at the powerful emotion pulsing over him.

  “I will always want you,” he told her just before his lips met hers. Elora gasped and her mouth opened allowing Cush to deepen the kiss. Their tongues danced and he pulled her closer, wrapping one hand in her hair and the other around her waist. She didn’t need the encouragement. She pressed herself closer and was rewarded when he groaned her name against her lips.

  “How could you think that I didn’t love you?” he whispered against her mouth as he pulled back breathless and drunk on her scent.

  “Look, I might be slightly conceded at times, but I wasn’t about to assume that you loved me just because I’m your Chosen,” she told him as she looked up at him, wishing he would just shut up and kiss her some more.

  A wicked grin spread across his face. “I heard that.”

  Elora hadn’t realized that the wall she had so diligently erected had come crashing down the minute he confessed his feelings for her.

  “Then why are we still talking?” she asked as she pulled his face back to hers.

  “Good question,” his voice caressed her thoughts as his lips once again claimed hers.

  Cush tried to reign in his desires even as he pushed her towards the hotel bed. His mind was all over the place with need, anger, love, lust, and then the intense need to claim and to merge their souls in the way of their people rushed over him. She had planned to leave him. She had honestly believed that he would just let her go and let her be with another. His foolish little raven needed a lesson in what it truly meant to be a Chosen—in what it meant to be his Chosen.

  He pressed her into the mattress and covered her body with his much larger one. The little noises she was making were beginning to drive him crazy and when her hands drifted under his shirt to meet flesh on flesh he heard himself growl. He fought the need to take her, though his soul was telling him he had every right to her innocence because she belonged to him. The man knew that despite her urgency now, he knew she wanted to be married in the way of the humans. It was the only life she knew and he wouldn’t allow her to do something in the heat of passion and emotion and then regret it later. He let her explore him a little longer and even ran his hand across the warm skin of her stomach, enjoying her gasp before he finally began to pull back.

>   “Elora,” he murmured against her lips. “My precious little raven.” He nipped her bottom lip and had to quickly grab her wrists when her hands began to wander to places he would really like them to, but knew if he allowed it, she would be a naked little raven all too quickly.

  “What?” she asked tilting her head to the side. “What were you just thinking?”

  He considered blocking her, but he was tired of the walls between them so he showed her. She gasped and turned several beautiful shades of red.

  “You’re expectations of me are much too high, Warrior,” she told him slightly embarrassed.

  “You have already exceeded any expectation I’ve ever had, Love, and I know for a fact that you do not see yourself in an accurate light.”

  Her eyes widened and he wanted to laugh at the worries he saw dancing in her mind. “Have you seen me? Like, through my own memory?”

  He chuckled. “No, Elora, calm down. What I showed you is something that every guy wonders about their female. That was my imagination, Love, not your memories.”

  “Well you’re very,” she cleared her throat and looked at him pointedly, “generous.”

  He kissed her slowly one last time before standing and pulling her up with him. He held her stare, wanting to make sure she took his next words very seriously. “No more talk of being apart. Once Lorsan is dealt with, you will marry me. We can discuss where we will live once we are joined and then,” his lips twitched in amusement as he watched her hackles rise, “then you will give me lots and lots of children,” he paused and licked his lips then added for good measure, “lots.”

  “If I kick you in the junk for being an asshat will you still be able to procreate later when I’m no longer mad at you?” Elora asked him calmly as if she were asking about the weather.

  “You’re sexy when you’re violent,” he told her with a smirk.

  She threw her arms in the air walking past him to the door with a huff. “Great, can’t even threaten my man because he thinks it’s a turn on. Nice.”

  He chuckled as he followed her, enjoying her aggravation a little more than was healthy.

  Chapter 14

  “So many lives have been lost at my hand; so many hearts destroyed, both figuratively and literally. Still, there will be more before the day is done. I will have to kill; I will have to slay in order to keep the one I love safe. I must unleash the darkness just one more time. I hope she can forgive me for what I have to do.” ~Trik

  Cassie could feel him pulling away, putting distance between them. She watched as he laced up his boots, such a human task, and yet he did it with the grace of an otherworldly being. He didn’t look at her, but she knew that he could feel her eyes on him. Finally, after a morning of quiet, he stood and met her stare.

  “What, Cassandra?”

  “I know that today isn’t going to be pretty. I know that there will be casualties and that you are going to have to kill. So why are you treating me as if I have condemned you?” she asked him suddenly sounding every bit as desperate as she felt. She didn’t need him pulling away from her, not now, not just before they went up against the one man who had stripped her of her dignity.

  Trik let out a deep breath and looked away from her as he spoke. “You are so very young and so very innocent, and I don’t say that,” he hurried on, “to make you feel like a child or to insinuate that you aren’t capable of handling what we are going to face today. I say that because I have to remind myself that not everyone has been in battle. Not everyone has killed for a living and not everyone is as cold on the inside as I am.” He turned back to her and his silver eyes locked onto hers. “Let’s just get through this alive and then we can deal with the aftermath, whatever that may be. Meet me in the throne room when you are ready.”

  She started to say something but he was already closing the door behind him. Cassie stood staring at the door, wondering what she had done wrong. All night he had held her, kissed her, and told her how much he wanted a future with her, and then this morning it was as if he had just turned a switch and suddenly he was Trik, dark assassin, again. She didn’t know how to talk to this Trik; she didn’t know how to reason with him.

  She finished getting dressed and decided to do just what he said, focus on staying alive and get through the fight. She could deal with him when everything was said and done. She just hoped that they were both alive to do that when the time came.

  Suddenly the door flew open and Trik came storming in. On his face, a mixture of pain, anger, fear, and love warred as if he couldn’t decide which one ruled him. He walked right up to her and looked into her eyes. “Marry me,” he told her. “Marry me right now.” He turned then and Tamsin walked in much more calmly.

  “Cassie,” he smiled gently.

  Cassie looked back at Trik. “Is this what your problem has been this morning? You’re cranky because I haven’t married you?” They had talked about it at length in the dark of night but Cassie hadn’t committed to a time frame. She still felt too young in many ways to marry, but she also knew that in many ways marrying Trik was the least of her responsibilities.

  Trik ignored her and turned instead to Tamsin and motioned for him to start.

  “We are gathered here today,” his words flowed out and Cassie looked up at Trik in shock. What on earth was he doing? She wasn’t really listening to Tamsin; her attention was too focused on Trik.

  “I do,” Trik said as his eyes bore into hers.

  “Cassie?” Tamsin called her name. She turned and looked up at him.

  “Do you take Triktapic to be your lawful wedded husband? Will you love and comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto him as long as you both shall live?”

  Cassie looked from Tamsin to Trik. She knew what she wanted to say—knew that she wanted this more than anything, and yet the words were frozen on the tip of her tongue.

  “Cassie?” Tamsin asked again.

  “Why?” Cassie managed to get out finally.

  “Why what?” Trik asked.

  “Why now? Why are you doing this now?”

  “Because if I die today I need to die knowing you were mine in every realm—my Chosen in this realm and my wife in yours. I need to know that I laid claim to you in every way because I love you. From the moment you came running into that boardroom looking utterly terrified and beautiful, I knew you were it for me. Marry me, Cassandra. Be my wife, my Queen, my love.”

  Cassie felt the air sucked from her lungs as she heard the sincerity in his words. The silver in his eyes swirled as he held her gaze. As his hand cupped her face, she felt his soul calling out for her.

  “I do,” she found herself saying almost without thought. “I do,” she said again more firmly. Trik’s face broke out into a breathtaking smile and his lips were pressed to hers before Tamsin could even get the words kiss your bride out.

  Cassie didn’t hear the door click closed when Tamsin left them alone. All of her focus was on her husband. He kissed her as though his life depended on it, as though the air from her lungs would give him that life. Cassie felt their souls touch and felt the rightness between them. Trik was where she belonged. She missed her parents, she longed for her world, but with Triktapic, her dark assassin, was where she was meant to be.

  “Thank you,” he murmured against her lips as he pulled back and then peppered her jaw with gentle kisses.

  Cassie laughed. “You’re thanking me for marrying you when you pretty much ordered me to?” she teased.

  He paused and looked at her, his head tilted ever so slightly. “I guess I am.”

  She shook her head at him and kissed his neck. “You do realize you’re stuck with me now, right?”

  “I think I can handle that.”

  He continued to kiss her neck down to her collar bone.

  “Um, Trik,” she cleared her throat as she felt his hands slide lower on her back and lower still. “Don’t we have a dark-elf king to de-throne?”
br />   His hands stopped and his forehead pressed against hers. “Dude is so dead for interfering in my honeymoon.”

  “I don’t think you can blame this one on him, Quiver Boy. It’s your fault for planning your wedding on the day you are supposed to attack him,” she pointed out, oh so helpfully.

  “Oh, I’m blaming him alright.” Trik held her hand and pulled her after him as he strode from the room. “If he wasn’t an evil bastard, I would be bedding my woman right now instead of hauling her off to war.”

  “Be still my beating heart; my man has a way with words,” Cassie crooned sarcastically as she hurried after him.

  “I never claimed words to be my specialty, my love. But what I can do with my hands, now that’s talent.” Trik looked over his shoulder at her and winked just as they entered the light-elf throne room.

  Cassie grinned wickedly at her mate as she spoke. “If Elora were here right now she would tell you that it’s actually what you do with your quiver that counts.”

  Trik let out a low chuckle as he stepped up to the front of the room and turned then to gaze at the eager faces of the warriors gathered.

  Syndra stepped up beside them and looked from one to the other and then shook her head. “Married and still haven’t done the deed,” she muttered.

  Cassie’s jaw dropped open at the queen but she quickly clamped it shut as Tamsin’s voice rang out.

  “All hail, King Triktapic and Queen Cassandra!”

  The room erupted in a united chorus, echoing what Tamsin had said. Cassie took that moment to lean towards Syndra. “We’ve been married all of twenty minutes.”

  A single brow on the light-elf queen’s face rose. “Well how long could it possibly take?”

  Cassie bit her lip to keep from busting out in completely inappropriate laughter and wished for the hundredth time that Elora was there to say the inappropriate things that she could not.

  “Let’s just get the dark elves under control and not worry about my virginal status, okay?” she retorted.