Release In The Dark (DARK erotic romance series) (20 page)

I turn my face to the side and
he sweeps the hair from my eyes, and cups my chin as he captures my
mouth with his possessively. Our tongue tangle, and he starts to
thrust his tongue hard and deep into my mouth, mimicking what his
cock is doing to my quivering pussy.

His hand moves down to rub my
nipples before moving down to my clit. He stokes the sensitive nub
gently, taking his cue from my shuddering body and breathy moans
before starting to rub harder. I gasp, and a strangled cry bubbles
from my throat. He starts to pound me hard, his hips pistoning as he
pushes deeply and desperately into my body. My name leaves his lips,
and as his seed spills into me, I climax and my rippling walls milk
his cock greedily, taking everything that he has to give, and more.

He falls on top of me, but his
palm slams to the ground to cushion the weight of his massive body
against mine. I feel some of his semen trickling down the inside of
my thigh, his seed mingled with my juices, flowing out of my body.

Inexplicably, there is a sudden
sense of loss and sadness as I lean my cheek against his face. His
seed will never take in my body. I cannot conceive his child.
Cannot feel his baby growing in my womb.

“
What's wrong?”
Jaxon kisses my eyelids tenderly.

“
Nothing.”

I can feel him frowning.
“That—is the most dreaded word in any man's vocabulary.”

He zips up his pants, and pulls
mine up over my hips. Fastening my belt expertly and efficiently, he
wraps my shirt and his arms over my chest without doing up the
buttons. Cradling me with my back against his solid chest, he leans
his chin against my head and says, “Talk to me. Tell me
about...nothing.”

I shake my head. “It's
really nothing.”

“
Okay.”

We sit in silence for a long
while. I bend my head and fumble with my buttons, but Jaxon pushes
my hands away. “Let me.”

He takes his time, doing up each
button with care. He smooths his hands down my arms and hugs me.
“I...I just wish I could give you...a baby,” I whisper
into the dark.

He jerks behind me and I hear
him swallow. “Zoey,” he says at last. “You are
perfect as you are. Having a family with you is my dream. We make
our own family, our own happiness. We can adopt, and I will love the
child and you with all my heart. That is the truth. The absolute
truth, Zoey.”

I open my mouth, but at this
moment, I just can't find the words to adequately express how I feel.
I feel loved, cherished, wanted by Jaxon, and I feel a sense of
bliss and security, blessed beyond measure. Yet beneath the rippling
surface of my happiness, in the cold, dark depths of my heart, I feel
a seething hatred and anger, a gnawing, growing hunger for vengeance.
I hate what has been done to me. The Emperor, his vile Empress and
that spineless Dr. Rolin had no right, no right to do what they did
to my body! They abused me physically and psychologically, and they
altered, destroyed a fundamental part of my womanhood. Given time, I
know I can recover from all those scars and wounds that they
inflicted on my body and mind. No matter how deep and painful those
wounds were, the pain and damage weren't permanent. But to make me
barren, to forcibly take a part of me, a part of Jaxon
away...forever...

My hands ball into fists and my
knuckles grind down into the hard, concrete floor. Even though Jaxon
has been so comforting and assuring, so strong and steadfast in his
love, this hate and fury continue to boil in my gut, exhorting me to
seek some form of revenge and redress. I will make them pay! With
their blood, with their worthless lives! Somehow, I just can't let
this go.

I turn to see Jaxon watching me,
his eyes dark and intense. I hold his gaze, my brows slowly
furrowing as so many unasked and unanswered questions rush to the
front of my mind.

Finally, my mind is coherent and
calm enough for me to give voice to my queries and concerns. “You
said that we won't be rejoining the cell,” I begin slowly.
“So...where are we going?”

Jaxon inhales deeply.
“We...I—am going to do what must be done, and end all
this fighting and terror and suffering.”

“
End this? How?” I
narrow my eyes at him.

“
The snake must be cut off
at the head.”

The head?

The head of State. The head of
the Unified States—is the Emperor.

My eyes widen as I grasp his
meaning. “You...are going to assassinate the Emperor...”
I whisper.

His eyes glitter dangerously in
the dark, confirming his deadly intent.

“
This...it's too
dangerous!” I gasp. “You...”

“
I will succeed,” he
says, his voice steady, strong and grim. “I know where he is,
and I know what to do.”

“
It is too dangerous...”
I repeat, shaking my head.

“
I'll leave you somewhere
safe. When it's done, I will return for you, and we...”

“
No!”

“
Zoey, I promise you...”

“
No! No, Jaxon, no! You
are not leaving me...somewhere safe,” I growl, grabbing his
collar. “I am coming with you!”

It is his turn to shake his head
and chant my words back to me, “It is too dangerous...”

“
Yes. It is dangerous.
It is dangerous everywhere. There is nowhere safe in all these
horrible, terrible States. Do you know what that—snake, did to
me?” I spit. “The Emperor made me watch as he fed a girl
to his snakes, hundreds and hundreds of writhing snakes behind a
glass wall in his chambers. He laughed as his snakes devoured the
girl whole, sneered as I screamed. He tortured and murdered so many
Sirens in the Palace. We were served up as disposable objects of
pleasure, to be used and discarded. He taunted me, tormented me,
whipped me...” I pant heavily, trying not to hyperventilate.
“I can have no rest, no peace, if I don't do this. I will kill
him! It is my right! I earned this right!” I shriek. “With
my blood!”

Jaxon's warm hands close around
my fists, gently easing my hands away from his collar. He holds my
shaking hands in his large ones, staring into my face with pained,
burning eyes.

“
We find him together,”
I breathe. “But. I. Kill. Him!”

“
It's not going to be
easy...” he says at last.

“
No,” I agree. “But
you'll be with me, right? And you'll keep me safe.”

He closes his eyes, and nods.

“
If this is what you
want...”

“
It is what I want,”
I tell him, holding his hands firmly. “What I need. I don't
want to be a walking corpse. Alive, but not living, drowning in
regrets and buried in hate. Even if...” My voice drops to a
whisper. “...even if I don't succeed, if I don't make it, I
will have no regrets, because—I have you.”

“
I won't let that happen.”
Jaxon grabs me and hugs me fiercely. “I know I can't wrap you
up in cotton and stash you in some underground hideout, but I will
watch your back. I will watch you like a hawk, and protect you with
my life, Zoey, and you will make it.”

I nod against his chest.

A sudden thought strikes me,
making me jerk up. “The snake...” I say carefully.
“...has two heads. The female head is more powerful—and
more deadly than the male.”

“
Then...you just leave the
female to me. You know how good I am with women,” he winks.

“
Women?” I growl,
pushing myself up to glare daggers at him.

“
Woman,” he hastens
to correct himself with a loud, dramatic gulp. “Just one
woman. One! One scary, sexy little woman.” He flashes an
impish grin at me, before tugging me in for a kiss.

I attempt to resist him and
fail, on purpose.

I can never resist him. He is
my weakness and my strength, my past, my present and my future.

And even though our future looks
inordinately dangerous and uncertain, even as we stare death and
destruction in the face, and let the most deadly and darkest of plans
take shape in our minds and hearts, I can't help but laugh.

Jaxon is the only one who can
make me laugh, through my pain and my past. He is the one shining
light in my darkness.

My laugh sounds too loud and
distorted, as it echoes through the tunnels leading from this dank,
abandoned chamber.

I kiss Jaxon and smile.

I will do it.

I will get my revenge.

We have been traveling for three
days and three nights, dodging and sometimes very nearly running into
Owen and his soldiers. Each time Jaxon is just a hair's breadth from
pulling the trigger and firing a bullet straight into the back of
Owen's skull. His restraint shows his strength. His wrath is
palpable, and it is always with a tightly clenched jaw and stark eyes
that he forcibly turns away and sheathes his gun at his side.

When we stumble upon the mauled
body of an Imperial soldier lying in the woods, Jaxon strips the dead
soldier of his watch. The teeth and claw marks on the mangled body
tell of an attack by a wild beast, probably while the hapless soldier
was taking a piss behind a tree.

Listening in to the
communication and commands over the soldier's watch, we learn that
fighting between the rebels and the soldiers have intensified, and
spread through the towns and cities like wildfire. The resistance,
the people, men, women and children have taken to the streets and
crowds have boldly and bloodily gone up against shields and tanks,
refusing to back down and be beaten back into submission and slavery.

The wave of resistance has
surged through the States, and the tide is turning. Turning crimson,
and turning against the Imperial Army.

I lean against a tree and empty
the last drops of water from my canteen into my mouth. I have just
polished off my last energy bar, and my backpack is now empty, save
for a spare change of uniform. Jaxon is crouching under a tree,
staring at the watch as the buzz of static signals an incoming
transmission. I go to his side and lean over his shoulder. The
screen on the watch flickers to life and I almost stagger back at the
image.

Close-set gray eyes blink
rapidly as they shift and dart from side to side. Thin, red lips
curl back into a halfhearted smile. The Emperor's pallid face zooms
into focus, and his pale hand rises in a strange, stiff salute, his
palm snapping up to his cheek. His trembling fingers begin to twirl
a strand of his matted orange hair. The Emperor looks exactly the
same as when I last saw him. And the last time I saw him, I was
shackled to his bed post while he wielded a barbed whip and screamed
obscenities at me. He is still togged out in all his royal finery,
with large rings glinting from all his fingers. Only he looks
thinner and even paler than before.

“
Attention my good people
and soldiers, this is an announcement from your Emperor.” He
chuckles humorlessly and clears his throat. “Your Emperor whom
you have sworn your loyalty to, and owe your worthless lives to, you
ungrateful pieces of trash!” He leans towards the screen, and
screeches almost desperately, hysterically. “Stop all this
stupid fighting! Go back to your factories and mines, and get back
to work! Keep the Unified States prosperous, keep your Emperor and
Empress prosperous, that is your pledge, your duty!” He gasps
suddenly, his eyes widening. “So, to my loyal soldiers, I say:
good job,” he intones. “Crush all these rebels, hang
their leaders and slaughter the people. Massacre all those who rise
up against their Emperor and Empress, kill all these traitors!”
The Emperor swallows and blinks, before nodding to someone off
screen. “My good soldiers and Generals, keep the black flag of
the Unified States flying high! Now, I...yes, good night, goodbye
all!” He croaks out a tearful laugh and with a final salute,
the screen goes blank.

I gawk at the blank screen,
playing the Emperor's disjointed message in my mind and wondering if
I had imagined the look of stark terror in his small, pleading eyes.

Jaxon stands up slowly.
Reaching for my hand, he squeezes my hand in his and lets out a quiet
sigh. “I know for certain where he is,” Jaxon says
grimly. “The background, the walls behind the Emperor. I
recognize it. Every Commander in the Imperial Army is brought to
this place during his training. The Commanders would be deployed to
protect the Emperor and the Empress during an emergency, an
insurgency, a war. The location is secret but I was made to memorize
the location of this bunker.” He turns to face me. “It
is near.”

I blink at him, unable to draw
breath. “We...we'll reach him, tonight?”

He nods once.

“
G-good.”

“
Zoey...”

“
I'm not scared. I'm
ready!” I kick my chin up.

Jaxon tries to smile, but fails.

Still keeping my hand in his,
Jaxon bows his head and closes his eyes for a long while. The
furrows deepen on his forehead as his throat moves to forcibly
swallow his words, his fears. I can see him struggling, fighting
with himself, with me internally. He wants to forbid me from going.
He imagines that by stopping me, by forcing me to a safe hiding place
where I can just wait and worry myself to death, he can keep me safe.
But he knows from experience that when I worry, I jump headlong into
worse dangers and even more hellish places. That was what I did when
he went missing on a mission. Worrying and waiting and going mad
with fear, I ended up at the Red Lantern.