Demon Retribution (Shadow Quest Book 3) (44 page)

All his training had been for this. All of
his suffering. Designed to prepare him to protect his mate. That’s
what he was meant for, and that’s what he would do.

Pooling his strength, he cocked his fist and
smashed it into the barrier. It splintered further, yet it still
would not break. Just a few more blows, he reasoned, but he was
swiftly losing power, his vision blurring. He coughed hard and
tried to pull himself to his feet. Kyra’s screaming assaulted him,
lashing him like a whip.

Must get to her!

His lungs spasmed painfully, but something
drew his attention to Kyra. Her skin had begun to lighten, until a
glow stretched out over her flesh.

Somewhere deep in his muddled subconscious
he remembered what that meant.

The light emanating from her grew so bright
that he had to shift his gaze. The Kayadon were bewildered. One of
them hurried to inject her with something, but when the needle came
close to her skin, it quickly disintegrated. The Kayadon pulled
back in alarm, but he couldn’t escape. First the skin of his hand
peeled away, revealing bone. Then the rest of his skin followed,
till a sickly skeleton stood in his place. Then that too withered
into dust.

Suddenly, the walls of Cale’s cell
shattered. A blast of hot air threw him back as the building
crumbled. His harsh landing knocked him senseless.

He must have blacked out for a moment. When
he came to, he heaved a pile of rubble off his chest. The sun
touched his skin as fresh, cool air rushed over him. All that
remained of the building was a ruined outline and a pattern of
debris fanning out.

In the middle of the destruction, Kyra lay
on the ground, breathing, but unconscious. The relief that washed
over him nearly brought him to tears. He moved to gather her in his
arms and placed a kiss on the top of her head. Feeling her
heartbeat staved off the last of his rage.

A groan sounded and a fallen piece of wall
shifted. The movement caught his eye, and Cale gently set her aside
to investigate. Fragments of the Edge returned as Cale stepped
forward to tower over the one remaining Kayadon.

Kyra awoke feeling trapped. Was she still in
that chair?

Sounds of the forest brought more confusion.
The only strap she felt was the one across her waist. It held her
tight, but not as uncomfortably as before.

Cale’s scent washed over her then, and she
relaxed, realizing what she felt was his arm draped around her.
They lay huddled together under the alcove of arching roots, hidden
by a blanket fashioned from leaves and vines.

She sighed and let his heat seep into her.
His breath on her neck came out shallow as he slept.

She recalled having used her gift, but not
much else afterward. She hoped she’d killed them all, but was sure
that if she hadn’t, Cale would have.

He would have relished it.

That was one thing that burned into her
memory. In the midst of everything, her magic had recognized a
kindred spirit. A beast, bloodthirsty and raging…desperate. Her
magic had curled around him like an impenetrable typhoon of
protection.

But then her magic had sensed something
else…

Cale’s grasp tightened, nearly crushing her
ribcage, but it also felt good. She wanted to hold him just as
close. She wanted to know she’d never have to let him go.

A light kiss grazed her shoulder. The
feeling was bliss.

“Are you awake?” he whispered.

“Mmm,” she replied.

He leaned over her. She rolled onto her back
to look up at him. He was beautiful to behold, with his clear blue
eyes and spiky blond hair. Her gaze luxuriated in his bare
chest.

“How are you feeling?” he said in an
unintentionally sexy voice. He could have said, “I ate clowns for
breakfast,” and she would have thought it sounded sexy.

“Really good at the moment,” she answered,
letting her fingers trail the planes of his torso. She breathed him
in.

His eyes grew dark with hunger. He cupped
the back of her neck and drew her in for a tender kiss. Her heart
warmed as she kissed him back, making it clear just how well she
felt by sliding her nails through his hair. Soon they turned
desperate, and he pulled back to trail the tender edge of her jaw,
making his way to that spot he knew so well. She didn’t restrain
her pleasure when he found it, allowing a needy sound escape. He
clamped her to him with one thick arm around her waist.

He lifted his head and captured her gaze.
She momentarily lost her breath at the emotion behind his eyes.
“Kyra, I… If anything had happened to you…I…” He paused. “It’s okay
if you don’t love me, but I want you to know that I do. Not me, I
mean…I love you. I love you so much.”

Her jaw dropped open, but she was rendered
speechless at his words, his uncertainty. In the next moment, she
was unable to contain a bellow of laughter. Her body shook hard and
her eyes watered. She was sure she sounded hysterical. Even when he
frowned and his expression turned quizzical she couldn’t stop.

Finally, when she was able to gather enough
air, she yelled, “Of course I love you, you jackass!”

He grinned, his confidence back tenfold. “Do
you now?”

She couldn’t have imagined that after such a
horrific experience she could be so happy. “You love me?” she said,
still unbelieving, though she couldn’t keep from smiling. “Even
though I’m not your mate?”

He frowned. “You are my mate. I mean, you
should have been.”

Her head cocked to the side. He proceeded to
tell her about the memory discovered through Nadua. About his
mother’s callous scheme and Velicia’s involvement.

“Cale, I’m so sorry,” she said when he
finished. She didn’t know what else to say. How could his mother be
so heartless?

“I should be sorry. Not you. I tried to
punish you when my feelings for you grew stronger than they ever
were for her. I was confused, because of the pain and because I
thought I knew what love was.” He shook his head. “But now…”—their
eyes locked—“now I know what it really feels like.”

“What does it feel like?” she breathed.

He lifted his hand to cup the side of her
face, caressing her cheek with his thumb. His lips brushed hers
before giving her a teasing smile. “There are no words.”

She snorted out a laugh at hearing her own
sentiments repeated. A warm tear escaped the corner of her eye. He
rubbed it away. Then something he had said caught up with her.
“But, what do you mean pain?”

He hesitated. “Even though I was being a
dolt, something in me recognized you from the start. When I’m with
you my body attempts to produce the chemicals for the claiming. And
because we only store enough for a single time…”

“It hurts you to be with me? Even now?”

He nodded, taking note of her reaction. “I
should not have told you.”

“Of course you should have. I don’t want to
hurt you.”

“If being with you caused me to suffer the
pain of a thousand deaths, I would bare it.” When she opened her
mouth to argue, he added, “Happily.”

“Is there nothing that can be done?”

“If there is some way for me to regain the
ability to claim you, we’ll find it…if that is your wish,” he
added.

“Of course it is. We’ll figure it out, and
then you’ll be all mine.”

“I’m already all yours.” His gaze turned
hungry, and she knew what was coming next. “I am going to have you
now.”

It was she who moved first, pushing her body
closer and kissing him as if she were starving for him. He made
short work of their clothing and when she was in nothing but her
panties, he slowed, drinking her in. She too looked him over. His
sculpted abs and chest were a testament to masculinity. Unable to
resist, she trailed her hands over each ridged muscle. He groaned
when she drew them lower and the wicked look in his eyes made her
shiver with desire.

He wedged himself between her legs and bent
to take her lips, caressing her tongue with his and nipping at her
bottom lip. “Have I told you how good you taste?” he said in a
husky tone. Automatically, she shook her head, though she knew he’d
meant it rhetorically.

Strong hands moved across the soft skin of
her outer thighs, over the swells of her backside, and around her
hips. He dug his fingers in and jerked her toward him, causing her
to fall back against the soft bed of leaves.

Leaning down, he claimed the tender flesh of
her nipple with his mouth and ran a calloused thumb over the other.
His actions were so masterful he could make her come from this
alone. She could already feel the beginnings of ecstasy thrumming
in her veins.

As he continued to tease her breast, his
strong palm caressed its way down her side, over her hip, coming to
rest in the juncture of her thighs. He let out a rumbling groan of
approval to find her slick and ready for him. His fingers skimmed
her clitoris, mingling and dancing until a spike of pleasure forced
a harsh sound through her lungs.

His mouth slid lower, to the underside of
her breast, her ribcage, her belly, all the while kissing and
licking and nipping. Her body writhed from the attention. Then his
tongue took the place of his fingers, and she cried out.

He explored her sex thoroughly. Her head
thrashed from the onslaught and all she could do was gasp and moan.
All she could feel was the pleasure he offered. Her back arched
from the sharp jolt of her orgasm, and she lost herself
completely.

“I love you,” she said on a breath as her
body buzzed from aftershocks.

He caressed his way up her body, and his
shaft met her center. “And I you.” He pushed into her, and her head
flew back with a moan. At the same time, he groaned before finding
a steady rhythm. She rocked her hips, meeting his every thrust. The
masculine sounds that reverberated through his chest seemed to feed
her lust.

He paused for only a moment to pull her
torso off the ground so she straddled his bent legs and kissed her
with bruising force. His palms found her ass, and he held tight as
their frenzy turned animalistic. She grasped his shoulders for
leverage while he pounded into her hot flesh.

They both cried out with the strength of
their release, and his arms wrapped around her, crushing her to his
chest. She did the same with her legs around his waist and buried
her head in the crook of his neck.

Long moments drifted by as they caught their
breaths and drowned in the other’s eyes. She nuzzled his neck, not
wanting to let go, but they couldn’t stay here forever.

Reluctantly, they released each other and
set to dressing. Cale’s clothing looked scorched, and she was
reminded of what she’d done.

She inhaled sharply. “It didn’t
shatter!”

Cale gave her a sidelong glance, and she
noticed it then, there behind his eyes, the pain he was trying to
hide.

She frowned. “Are you hurting?”

He stilled, averting his gaze and shaking
his head. “I should not have told you.”

She wasn’t about to go back to that
argument, so instead, she returned to her revelation. “I used my
gift, and the planet didn’t shatter.”

He smiled. “Aye. I noticed that as
well.”

After redressing, he took her hand and led
her out from behind the roots, drawing her into the forest. She got
the feeling he had a destination in mind and was about to ask where
they were going when she caught sight of something through the mess
of trees.

She approached with her expression frozen in
shock. Ginn returned her look with one of annoyance.

Ginn sat on the ground with his upper body
and legs wrapped in a layer of thick vines. A second set of vines
around his stomach held him against the base of a tall root
connected to an oringa tree.

“You’re alive,” Kyra chocked out, not
meaning to make it sound like she was informing him of something he
didn’t already know.

“It would seem so,” Ginn replied
starchily.

“How’s that possible?” She looked to Cale,
but he only shrugged. “He lived through my magic and you didn’t
kill him?”

“Believe me, I wanted to. But I thought I
should speak with you about it first.” By his expression, she
understood how difficult that must have been for him.

“Thank you, Cale.” Then she realized Ginn
had been only a handful of feet away while they’d made love. Heat
flooded her cheeks, and she repeatedly slapped Cale on the chest.
“You dirty, rotten…How could you let me be so loud?”

He gave her an unrepentant grin as he fended
off her attack. “Because I was winning.”

“Well, next time I’ll be sure that you
don’t.”

He caught her wrist mid-air. “I would love
to see you try.”

Ginn rolled his eyes, which were now a mucky
grey color and laced with more veins than before. He looked haggard
and was probably close to death. Studying him brought back a fuzzy
memory of her magic’s wrath. At one point during the melee it had
reached into Ginn and found something worth saving.