King of Diamonds (16 page)

He’s bleeding, so much!

Sparkles filled the sky, so dazzling that Annie was nearly blinded by them.

The monster paused, squinting its six eyes against the brightness.

Karn tore into the flesh of one of the beast’s necks, the sound of ripping flesh almost causing Annie to vomit.

Blood spurted from the wound, bathing Karn’s white fur in dark red. The beast’s undamaged head shrieked as the first fell limp against the monster’s huge chest. The remaining head dove for Karn’s neck, and Karn barely dodged the jagged teeth.

At the same moment, Annie saw tiny figures charging through the rain, toward Karn and the monster, each one of the small people holding long spears and shouting out a shrill war cry.

Munchfolk!

Annie’s relief was so great she almost dropped her dagger.

She recognized Derk and thought she saw Ront, Lia, and even Beya too, but everything was an incredible blur of mud, fur, blood, fangs, scales, and spears. The sound of metal piercing flesh sickened her, yet all she truly cared about was that Karn would come out of this alive.

Mud and blood covered Karn and the Munchfolk as they fought, and Annie could do nothing but feel helpless as she watched them.

A body was flung aside by the monster. It hit the ground and slid across the mud. The tiny man bounded back to his feet and charged toward the melee again. Two other bodies sailed through the air. One of the Munchfolk jumped up to rejoin the battle, but the other lay still.

Annie started to move toward the injured man.

Her path was blocked by a pure white tiger. Its fangs were bared and it crouched, ready to spring at Annie.

The
shelenna
was weakening. Fatigue and loss of blood hampered Karn’s fighting abilities, but he wouldn’t stop until the creature was done for, once and for all.

“Save your Queen!” Derk shouted to Karn as he rammed his spear into the
shelenna
again and again.

Karn whirled away from the beast. His heart pounded nearly out of his chest as he saw a white tiger.

It had Annie backed up against the cliff’s edge.

Mikaela!

The sister who had betrayed Karn and his brothers was now attempting to kill Annie by forcing her off the edge of the cliff.

NO!
Karn shouted in thought-speak, trying to catch Mikaela’s attention.

Her head swung toward him and she shifted, white fur to skin and black leather, from tiger to human form. In her hand she held a long black whip, the leather writhing like a snake upon the muddy ground. With her eyes focused on Karn, she snapped the whip at Annie, coming within inches of her.

“Why do you think I brought her here?” Mikaela smirked and propped one hand on her hip. “With a mindspell I convinced her to leave this very night. And I woke the king
shelenna
from his winter nap to ensure her death.”

Leave her be.
Karn’s paws slipped in the mud as he took a step forward and considered his options. He had to take care because he knew Mikaela’s talent with the whip was great and she could easily send Annie to her death with a flick of her wrist.
Kill me if you must, but let Annie live.

Mikaela shook her head. “It will be so simple to send her body to the rocks below.”

A chill rippled over Karn’s skin that was even colder than the rain pouring from the skies. He shifted into his man’s form even as he moved another step toward Mikaela. His body was covered in mud, and his countless wounds bled freely, yet he barely felt them. From behind, the sounds of Munchfolk battling the
shelenna
continued to fill the night.

Karn’s gaze focused entirely on Mikaela. He would beg for Annie’s life, whatever it would take to save her. “Please do not do this, sister.”

A blank look flashed across Mikaela’s angular features, as though surprised that Karn had referred to her in a familiar way. But the look vanished, replaced by cold calculation. “I will kill her,
brother.
If only for the joy of seeing you in pain. Why should you have what I do not—you, one of the four who received all from our parents?”

“I miss you.” The thought escaped Karn before he had a chance to consider his words, but he plunged ahead. “I miss the sister I once knew and loved.”

Mikaela looked taken aback for a moment, but regained her composure in mere seconds. “That person no longer exists.”

“You’re wrong.” Karn held out his hand. “She’s still inside, in your soul. Please…do not damage it further by taking away the one woman I love with all my heart.”

Annie’s eyes widened and she lowered her dagger. “You love me, Karn?”

Mikaela raised her chin. “That is why she must die.”

“Do you not recall how close we were?” Karn took another step toward Mikaela. “Remember how we played ‘catch the monkey tail’ in the jungle behind the castle? And when we used to filch pastries from the kitchen and eat them in the grand turret where we were not allowed? Before the fever. Before the misunderstandings, the fighting, the hatred.”

“Those days are gone.” Mikaela’s expression shifted, as if she was struggling with some inner battle. “I intend to rule Tarok. All of you and your mates must be exterminated.”

Karn clenched his fists and took another step closer. “This is not the real Mikaela speaking.”

Her eyes flashed red and her face hardened. “This bitch must die. They all must die.” She raised her whip and snapped it at Annie.

Annie felt the sting of leather as the whip wrapped around her waist. A quick yank and the whip pulled free, causing Annie to slip on the muddy ground. One foot met air and the next thing she knew the ground vanished beneath her.

“No!” Karn shouted and lunged toward her.

As she fell, Annie clawed the slippery ground with one hand, digging her fingers into the wet soil. With her other she drove the dagger in the ground. For a moment she stopped, clinging to the side of the cliff with her free hand and the dagger. Her feet flailed, trying to find purchase on the wet cliff side. But she was slipping. She couldn’t hold on much longer.

“Annie!” Karn threw himself to the ground and grabbed Annie’s hands just as the dagger slipped free. It flipped over her shoulder, through the air, and headed down to the jagged rocks below. “Hold on,” he shouted as he grasped her wrists tight and pulled.

But Mikaela was advancing on them, whip in hand. Just as she raised it to strike, a small black and white creature bolted across the clearing, its green eyes blazing. It was all but a blur, it happened so fast, as the creature clawed its way up Mikaela’s leather pantsuit, straight for her face.

Abra!

Mikaela shrieked and raised her hands to push away the cat that clawed at her face and gave a loud
“Yerowl!”
as though it were the fiercest of tigers.

Karn yanked Annie’s arms, pulling her up over the cliff’s edge and onto the ground at the same moment Mikaela was fighting off Abra.

The woman shifted into a tiger and Abra tumbled to the ground. Just as Mikaela swiped a massive paw at the cat, her back legs slid in the mud and out from beneath her, right over the side of the cliff.

Annie was on her knees, ready to dive for her cat.

Mikaela slipped over the edge, her front tiger claws pawing at the ground.

Karn threw himself toward Mikaela, reaching out to grab one of her paws.

But it was too late. Mikaela gave a loud roar, then vanished from sight.

Annie scooped Abra into her arms and buried her face in the cat’s drenched fur. Everything was silent, outside the roar of the ocean and the sound of rain pounding the moors. Even the battle with the Munchfolk and the
shelenna
had gone quiet.

Slowly Annie raised her head to see Karn on one knee, both hands over his face. He ran his palms upward, pushing his hair out of his eyes. “Maybe it is for the best,” he said quietly. “Her soul has been tortured for far too long.”

With a sob, Annie threw herself at Karn. He wrapped her in his arms, and Abra mewled at being caught between them. The cat slipped out of her grasp and landed gently on the ground as Karn brought Annie tighter into his embrace. They were on their knees in the rain, clinging to one another for a long moment and not saying a word.

Finally, Karn said, “I love you, Annie. With all my being, I love you.”

Annie tilted her face up to look into his serious midnight eyes. “The moment I saw you in the painting before you brought me here, you had my heart, Karn. It belongs to you, just as I do.”

He kissed her then, soft and sweet. Annie tasted rain and mud and blood mixed in with his unique flavor. At that moment, she didn’t care about anything but being in his arms and knowing that he loved her.

After Karn made sure his mate was unhurt, he forced himself toward the edge of the cliff. His heart ached for the sister he had known and loved so long ago. He would go down the path to the shore, recover Mikaela’s body, and see to it that she received a proper Tarok burial.

But when he peered over the edge, nothing was there. Only ocean pounding rock and shore.

After the Munchfolk had buried the
shelenna
in the moors, they vanished in so many sparkles, taking their dead and wounded back to their homeland.

Despite Annie’s protests, Karn insisted on carrying her to the mansion, even though he was wounded and covered in blood. With Abra in her arms, Annie snuggled into Karn’s embrace, feeling warmth in her heart and soul that chased away the chill from her drenched skin.

Without pausing to greet Beya who held the door open as if waiting for them, Karn strode up the staircase to Annie’s chambers, and into the bathing room. The moment he set Annie down, Abra bounded from her arms, straight for Beya who appeared in the doorway in a burst of sparkles.

“Will you be needing anything, Sire?” she asked as she scooped up the cat. “If not, I will see to Mistress Abra.”

Karn smiled. “Do care for that ferocious little beast.” He turned his smile toward Annie. “I will see to this one.”

Annie’s heart swelled at the look in his eyes. He loved her…he truly loved her.

When Beya vanished with Abra, Karn and Annie stripped out of their clothing, climbed into the pool and bathed one another. After they were clean, they toweled off and then moved to the bedroom.

Annie insisted that Karn had to sit on the stool in front of the mirror so that she could attend to the cuts and scrapes on his face and arms. In some ways it amused her to have this big hulking warrior obeying her command.

With his magic Karn retrieved a Tarok version of a first aid kit, and Annie followed his instructions on what pastes and gels to use on the wounds. The paste had the scent of mint and oranges, and was used to sterilize the wounds and to protect them from infection. The gel’s odor was not particularly pleasant. It was more like it had been made from a nasty smelling ragweed. But the stuff was incredible because it was like a liquid bandage. The moment she rubbed it over a wound, it stopped bleeding and started healing.

While she treated his scratches, Annie’s heart ached for every wound he had taken to defend her. “I’m sorry I ran away,” she murmured as she dressed the last one. She set the jar of gel on the dresser and knelt between his thighs. “I should have stayed.”

Karn brushed her damp hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. “It is I who should be sorry, kitten. You deserved to be showered with love, to be embraced and cared for. Trust me in that you have my love forever and always.”

Annie reached up, put her arms around his neck and pulled him down to meet her. “I know,” she whispered, then kissed him.

He scooped her up in his arms and carried her through the doors to his bedroom, and he laid her on the bed. It was the first time she had ever been on his bed, and the tenderness in his eyes and in his caring for her nearly brought tears to her eyes.

When he lay beside her, Karn stroked his finger between her breasts, down to her mound, and back up. “There is something I have not shared with you yet, kitten.”

“What?” She gave him a teasing look. “Don’t tell me. You’re not really a weretiger, you’re a wereleopard.”

The corner of Karn’s mouth curved in a grin that was so sexy Annie nearly lost her breath.

“No, love.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Weretigers can release a
tigri
pheromone when they mate. After a time, his partner will begin the transformation to become a weretiger, too.”

Annie stared at him, both surprised and unsure how she felt about it. “Have you released the pheromones with me?”

He shook his head. “You would have known it if I had. It would cause you to become quite wild and animalistic with your desire to mate with me.”

“Wild animal sex, huh?” Annie gave him an appraising look even though she wanted to smile at the thought. “And what else is there to this story?”

“The
tigri
pheromones would enable you to live a very long life, long enough that we would grow old together.” He continued caressing Annie’s belly with a light sensual stroke. “You would live nearly as long as our cubs will.”

His cock felt like steel against her hip, distracting her, making it harder to think. She struggled to let her professor brain sort things out, first. “That first night we were together, when I asked you about contraceptives, you said that you have to release a pheromone to impregnate me.”

“I would also have to release my seed and you would have to be in heat to become pregnant with my cubs,” he reminded her. He trailed his finger lower, toward her mound. “But as far as the change, the few times I released the pheromone would not be enough to complete the transformation to make you a weretiger.”

“Wow.” Was it really so simple? “As a weretiger I would be able to shapeshift, like you do?”

Karn nodded. “But it must be your decision. I will never take your right to choose away from you again.”

Annie smiled and reached down and wrapped her fingers around his cock. “I say, what are you waiting for?”