B00XXAC6U6 EBOK (22 page)

Ian again remembered Regan’s method of deep focus. He closed his eyes, and forced himself to continue up the hill. He brought his battle energy forward and faced his palms toward what felt like a tangled net of a spell. He thought it surprising he could discern the nature of the formula, almost thorny and angry, but with numerous holes. He’d learned a lot from Regan.

He had the impression that whoever had concocted this spell had been pissed off and in a hurry. He realized then just how much he’d shared with Regan when she’d broken down Margetta’s spell.

As he centered his thoughts on the spell, he discovered its weakness and he brought his battle energy flowing into his right palm.

Opening his eyes, his mind once more felt confused as though he didn’t know what he was looking at. But that was a result of being in the middle of the spelled territory. He opened his hand and fired a quick array toward the thorny spell.

He watched as his blue battle energy popped and sparked in several places, sending smoke into the air.

When the rest of Ben’s driveway came into view, Ian knew he’d broken the spell.

He flew swiftly up to the house.

Before he even opened the front door, he heard Regan’s screams. His fangs emerged as he followed the sound of her pain to what was a back room, probably a bedroom.

He shoved the door wide.

When he saw Ben sitting astride Regan, pulling on her hair, a red hue of rage covered Ian’s eyes. Ben looked euphoric as well, a strong clue that he was a split-second away from forging the blood rose bond with Regan. He could sense both their mating bonds swirling and tightening.

He levitated then flipped to a horizontal position. He flew above Ben, caught his shoulders, pulled him off Regan and slammed him into the wood bedframe. Ben slumped sideways, though lifting his head and shaking it.

Ian returned to Regan, intending to pick her up and get her out of there. But the next moment, Ben was on him and had Ian in a choke hold.

Ian thought he’d be able to break free easily since he had more essential muscle mass than Ben. But he caught the scent of Regan’s blood and knew that it now flowed through Ben. He was powered as never before.

Ian grabbed Ben’s arm, but he couldn’t break the hold on his neck.

The next thing he knew, Regan was in front of him, her hands settled on his forearms. Power surged through him. A moment later, she quickly backed away, tucking herself next to the bedside table.

Ian stepped forward with his right foot and at the same time, twisted slightly. Using his left elbow, he smashed into Ben’s ribs.

Ben loosened his grip, grunting in response.

Ian grabbed Ben’s left arm, and using his fangs, ripped into his muscle and tore out a chunk of his forearm.

Ben shouted in pain, then levitated backward several feet almost to the wall by the bathroom. He held his arm with his other hand, clearly healing the wound. He was doing it fast, too, another powerful side effect of Regan’s blood.

After a moment, Ben lowered his shoulders and knees, getting into a combat position once more.

Ian spoke to Regan. “Get yourself someplace safe. I’ll finish this.”

Regan moved swiftly to stand near the door by the dresser, but she didn’t leave. “I’m not going anywhere. We’ll see this through together.”

He could tell she meant it, but what she thought she could do, he couldn’t imagine.

“Need a woman’s help?” Ben sneered.

For a moment, Ian got lost in the thousands of memories of the man in front of him. He didn’t recognize this version of Ben, the dark look in his eye, the way his nostrils flared, the cruel line of his mouth. “Were you pretending all those years? By all the elf lords, I never knew you.”

“No, you didn’t. You ruled Camberlaune. You never thought about me or what my life was like constantly in your shadow. Women flocked to you and gave me a cursory glance because I didn’t have your weight, your power.”

“You’ve done all this because of jealousy? How many have you had murdered, Ben, solidifying your position?”

A diabolical expression descended on his features, his eyes red-rimmed and bright. “Over a thousand, counting all the realms. And one more tonight.”

Ben launched, a blur of motion Ian barely saw coming. Because of the strange movement, Ian knew some other force was at work.

Another spell.

Ben slammed into his chest this time, forcing Ian hard against the bedside table. Ben lifted Ian up with a hand beneath his arm, then punched him in the face repeatedly with his right fist.

Ian’s head jerked back with each blow. He couldn’t breathe and his brain was a mess because of the spell. But he’d been a warrior a long time and swept his leg behind Ben, knocking him off balance. As a result, Ben let go of him and fell to the floor.

The room was small for two big bodies. Ian moved toward the foot of the bed as Ben lifted up off the floor, levitating. Ian saw a flash of something, but he didn’t know what it was. Shit, did he have dagger on him?

Once more, Ian’s head grew clouded because of the added spell and he didn’t see Ben coming until Ian felt a cut across his abdomen.

He looked down. Ben had sliced him, yet didn’t penetrate the muscle, though he could have.

“I’m taking you down, Ian, one cut at a time. And I’ll enjoy every second of it.”

Ian stumbled as he saw the blur once more. He felt a burn over his right shoulder, then his left. But his mind wasn’t working at all.

The next cut was low at his waist. He didn’t even see movement of any kind this time. He dropped to his knees. “Regan … run.”

~ ~ ~

Regan had been right not to leave. Ben had activated a latent spell, something with Margetta’s signature all over it.

She’d dropped into her meditation with the first cut of Ben’s dagger. She’d had no doubt what would happen next since the spell was messing with Ian’s mind and making it impossible for him to function.

She could feel the formula, its intricacies and again its beauty. But she didn’t have time to construct a counter-spell. Ian would be long dead before she could lift the veil of the spell so that Ian could battle Ben on an equal footing. With so much blood already pouring out of him, he’d be too weak to fight.

Ian had dropped to his knees holding his stomach as Ben moved in behind him. He slid a hand beneath Ian’s chin, exposing his throat. He brought the blade up to his neck, smiling. She barely recognized the monster ready to kill a man he’d known for centuries and fought beside almost as long.

She couldn’t let Ian die, but what could she do? She remembered what it had been like to share the blood tattoos with him. Each time he’d battled, she’d been with him and had felt how he did what he did. On instinct, she warmed up her battle frequency.

She centered herself on his warrior-ness and without giving it too much thought levitated, then rolled in the air in order to come up behind Ben. At the same time, she brought her battle energy into her palm. The moment she made contact with Ben’s skull, she let her power flow.

He hadn’t expected the blow. He turned toward her, a surprised look in his eye, then crumpled unconscious to the floor, his knife still gripped in his hand.

Regan dropped down beside Ian who sat on his knees and leaned against the bed. His complexion was pale and his eyes were closed. Blood poured from his cuts. She checked his throat first, but she’d been in time; there was only a small wound.

He would live.

For now, she focused on bringing forward her healing energy and letting it flow. But just as his wounds were almost sealed up, a golden light suddenly filled the bedroom and it wasn’t good.

“What the hell is this?” Margetta shouted. “Ben just pathed me saying he’d taken Ian out.”

Regan shrugged. “Guess he didn’t count on me.”

Margetta narrowed her eyes, her lips curling in disgust. “The only thing I hate more than an imbecile is a smart ass.”

The Ancient Fae lifted a white hot palm to Regan. “Now let’s find out which hurts more, the spell in your head or my battle power.”

~ ~ ~

Ian came to full consciousness abruptly because Regan was screaming. She was in pain. He opened his eyes a little, but didn’t move. He needed to know what kind of attack was in progress before taking action. Was Ben hurting her?

But the golden light he could see told him it was worse than that. Margetta was here.

And he couldn’t path Regan because of the spell still shielding her telepathic abilities.

He forced himself to ignore the level of pain Regan was in and once more modeled her meditative process in order to quickly analyze the situation. More importantly, he only had a few seconds to figure out what to do.

His own pain, since he was still healing, he ignored.

That’s when he felt something touching his chest, a vibration so at odds with the external battle, he wasn’t sure he understood what it was.

Then he knew: Regan was sharing her mating vibration, touching his chest, asking for entrance. And she had a very specific plan in place.

Brilliant!

His corresponding frequency rose almost without having to form the thought. He also knew what this meant: he’d be forging a bond with her, the blood rose bond. With it, they’d each gain a tremendous boost in power.

For a couple of seconds, he hesitated. He wanted to ask her if she was sure. But he knew Regan. She wouldn’t have come to him like this without having already made up her mind.

And more than anything else in the world, he wanted to bond with her.

He opened himself wide. The moment his vibration touched hers, he let his love for her flow, all that he’d held back for such a long time. Despite her physical agony, her mating vibration hummed against his, getting stronger and stronger.

He could feel the bond begin to form, a tightening of his energy with hers. His mind filled with an extraordinary light until at last the frequencies joined and the bond solidified. The same light exploded within his mind, power flowing through him in massive bursts.

He heard a shrieking sound and recalled that while Margetta was the Ancient Fae, she was also part wraith and had assumed that form now.

He opened his eyes and rose up. Margetta hung in the air, a wild, euphoric expression on her face. She was in her wraith form, wearing the traditional gown of red gauze. Gold streams of her battle power flowed over Regan, causing her enormous pain.

Regan’s body was lit with a red aura, a sign she was battling Margetta in her own way, but with limited success. Margetta could have killed her outright that much Ian could see. Instead, she was taking pleasure torturing the Ruby Fae.

He let his battle energy ride across his shoulders then flow down both arms. He knew in that moment, because of his bond with Regan, he could kill the Ancient Fae.

Margetta shifted suddenly to stare at him, her eyes wide with shock.

He aimed his blue battle power at her, opening his palms wide. But the moment he fired, the golden light vanished. Margetta had disappeared. Which meant the energy he’d just released exploded the wall opposite him as well as the bathroom beyond.

He quickly covered Regan with his body, protecting her as debris landed all around them.

~ ~ ~

Regan couldn’t believe what it was like to have Ian’s frequency connected to hers. Power flowed, for one thing, so that she felt lit on fire. And the pain Margetta had been causing disappeared completely.

As the dust settled and Ian rose up, she followed, turning to stare at him. His dark gray eyes also seemed as fiery as she felt. She gripped his forearms and felt his power pulsing as though they still shared the blood tattoos.

“Ian, is this what you wanted? The bond, I mean?”

He drew her into his arms. “Being connected to you like this is exactly what I want. I love you. I always have.”

She slid her arms around his neck and held him close.

After a moment, her gaze drifted to the floor. Ben was on his stomach, half buried in debris.

“Oh, sweet Goddess, is he dead?”

Ian released her and went to Ben. She watched him push some of the drywall and tile away from his body, then lean down to check for a pulse. “He’s gone.”

“Ian, I didn’t mean to kill him. I saw where the battle was headed and because I’d fed him, I knew he had too much power. I swear I didn’t mean to hurt him that bad. Just to incapacitate him.”

Ian returned to her, pulling her close once more. “I’m sorry, Regan. I know this isn’t what you wanted.”

She drew in a ragged breath. “It’s horrible. All of it. And he was so close to forging the bond with me.”

A shudder passed through Ian. “Let’s get you out of here. I’ll contact Stone and let him take care of this. I know he won’t mind taking charge.”

She wanted to respond, but couldn’t. Tears had started to flow and wouldn’t stop.

~ ~ ~

Ian led Regan slowly through the house, an arm around her waist, her head pressed to his shoulder and chest. He knew she was weeping and he let her be.

When he tapped Stone’s telepathy, the brother responded,
Tell me you got him.

We did.

And Regan?

She’s fine.
Ian then related all that had happened, including the newly formed bond between himself and Regan.

When he told Stone he needed him to take care of Ben’s body, Stone responded,
Give me the location and I’ll be there as fast as I can.
I’m in the air already, heading east with five of my best Guardsmen.

As Ian shared the same directions Scott had given him, he walked Regan out onto the front walkway. He didn’t stop there but kept her moving in the direction of the street away from the house.
Though she trembled and his tank grew damp with her tears, all he felt was tremendous relief. He had her with him and she was safe from a man he now considered a sociopath and a monster.

He waited at the bottom of the long drive for Stone. The brother arrived a minute later with five powerful Guardsmen in tow.

Stone clapped him on the shoulder. “We’ve got this, Ian. Go. Take care of your woman.”

Ian nodded. He felt blasted up one side and down the other from the events of the past few minutes.