To Love a Shifter: A Paranormal Romance Boxed Set (86 page)

          Every crunching sound of bones shattering into pieces filled George with grim satisfaction, but her eyes remained on her captor’s figure.

         
“You do not deserve to be a demon duke,”
the archdemon spat.

          Silviu didn’t answer, conserving his power and using it to keep his heart beating even though the archdemon’s sword was near to destroying it.

          The archdemon tightened his grip on the hilt of the sword again, readying to drive in the killing blow.

          “Yo, asshole,” a feminine but coldly sweet voice said.

          Silviu choked.
The stubborn, stubborn, stubborn girl---

         
The sound made the archdemon halt.

          It was her cue, and George struck the creature as hard as she could with the iron bar.

          Enraged at the blow because it had come from a foe that smelled like the weak humans it preyed on, the archdemon whirled around, its cavernous jaws snapping open in preparation to swallow its opponent whole.

          George said with relish, “Do it, Granite.”

          The horse neighed in approval and kicked the archdemon on the face with all his might. It was a powerful blow, accompanied with a strong gust of wind that had the archdemon flying back and crashing against the bark of a tree.

          Wasting no time, she leaned down and held her hand out. “I swear to God, if you don’t come up with me now---”

          But her captor had already pulled the sword out from his chest and swung himself behind her.

          The quick capitulation disconcerted George. “Oh, umm…”

          “Thank you for saving me, milady.”

          The words were even more unnerving.

          And unfortunately, the hulk-like opponent of his had also recovered and was running on all fours towards them. If looks could really kill, well, she would be the dead one by now.

          “Let’s fly,” she urged Granite.

          Granite tried to do as commanded but just before they could take off, an imp managed to slash its claws against Granite’s left wing. They immediately crashed back to the ground.

          “Run, Granite!” Silviu roared. It was the only way. Leaning heavily against his heartkeeper’s back, he wrapped his arms around her tiny waist so that he could take the reins. “Let me.”

          He didn’t wait for an answer. He pressed his heel to Granite’s flank and Granite obeyed the silent order, the horse using all of its power to help his master flee.

         
Ilie and I will take care of the imps, Your Grace,
Adrijan said.

         
I’m going after the archdemon,
Mihail said.

          George twisted her head around to look over her captor’s shoulder, needing to see where their monstrous opponent had gone – but it was nowhere in sight, and that worried her. “It’s gone,” she whispered.

          “No,” Silviu said flatly. “It’s not. It’s running above us.”

          The moment he said the words, George heard it, the scraping of clawed feet against the branches and leaves as it tried to catch up with them.

          She swallowed audibly and her body tensed as she wondered if they would ever survive the night.

          “Do not be afraid, milady,” Silviu said, reading Georgina’s body language correctly. “Mihail will keep it away.”

          As if to prove his words, Mihail let out another sound wave, so powerful that it had the archdemon falling to the ground. Mihail, who had also been running on the top of the trees, jumped down. By the time he reached the ground, his opponent had recovered and their swords clashed.

          As Granite continued to run, George kept her gaze glued to the battle behind them. Her captor’s friend had finally maneuvered his opponent to a corner, and with a few expert flicks of his sword, he was able to disarm the creature.

          “He’s killed it,” she cried out.

          “But we still have to get through another one, I am afraid,” her captor said, the edge in his voice filling George with dread.

          Surely he was joking? Please let him be joking, God, please!

          She turned around.

          Her face whitened.

          Shit, he had not been joking.    

          “No,” George whispered. It seemed to be the only word she could utter, the only word to best express the way she wanted to deny reality. Even Milla Jovovich didn’t have it this bad in all of the Resident Evil movies! They deserved a fucking time-out, dammit! Even Plants versus Zombies had a fucking final wave of zombies! There was supposed to be a fucking end!

          “I will fight it off, milady.” Silviu vaulted off Granite’s back. Even the simple move caused him undue pain, which he tried his best to hide. Looking up at his heartkeeper, he said, “And this time, I mean it – I need you to run away with Granite.”

          Her horrified gaze sought his. “No. Are you cra---never mind.” George shook her head. “I won’t leave you.”

          “Do as I say,” Silviu snarled, fear making his voice sharp. There was no escape now. Heartkeeping had weakened him, his men were too far to help him, and the imps were far too many. He had known that if he found a soul to share it would anger Hell, but he had not anticipated this kind of opposition.

          “Fuck no,” George snarled back even as tears filled her eyes.

He was going to die. He knew it, and she could see the knowledge in his eyes. Dammit, she did not want him to die! Yes, he had nearly raped her, but he was crazy. It could be forgiven. He was a damn good kisser and maybe after a few years in an asylum, he would be all right.

          He could not die and she would not let him die!

          The creature started towards them.

          “Dammit, Georgina!”

          “Dammit, you crazy man!”

          The other archdemon bounded forward, and Silviu raised his sword, knowing that this would be his last stand.

          As the archdemon sprang towards him, a multitude of roars pierced the night, followed by a blur of movement, one after another. The archdemon was not meant to reach its target for in the blink of an eye, it had become the target instead.

          The Duke of Brimstone had come home to save them.

          Now, the inhabitants of Brimstone had come to save its duke.

          Werewolf. Vampire. Shapeshifters. Creatures of every element, every force of nature - every mythical character she could think of had come to life right before George’s very eyes, and all of them were chomping on the flesh and tearing off the limbs of the monster that had tried to kill them.

          “What are they?” George whispered.

          Silviu answered softly, proudly, “My people.”

Chalys does not have pharmacies. Instead, they have 24-hour tea shops like the one in this photo.

They have brews for everything! L-R relaxation tea, wisdom tea, vengeance tea, menopause tea, and contraceptive tea. However, they do not have anything equivalent to Gatorade. =(

#wtf #imissgatorade

          George tried to run away.

          Umm, of course she did. Those were real-life, living, breathing, and flesh-chomping shapeshifters, blood-sucking vampires, and God knew what else was there in front of her.

They were
not
human, plain and simple, and her captor, whatever his name was, had just said those were his people.

          Considering her pathetic human flesh was a lot softer and probably juicier than the creature they were bent on devouring - now reduced to blood and tiny bits of flesh and intestines on the ground – George had a pretty good reason to run.

          Unfortunately, she only managed to jump off Granite’s back and take a few steps before her captor was blocking her way. No, wait, he was blocking her
entire field of
vision with the way his wings – his goddamn mighty-looking wind-whipping black
wings
– spanned out and beat softly as he landed slowly in front of her.

          Her mind blazed with pain, no longer able to keep up with what was happening, what was real, and who was what. Maybe she was still drugged and she had imagined
everything.

         
“Just tell me, please – I’m drugged, aren’t I?”

          Silviu could see she was near the breaking point but valiantly fighting it off. She was the bravest woman, as well as the most stubborn, with the way she took the most insane risks.

          He loathed that he was causing her pain and anguish, but even though he knew what answer she needed to hear, Silviu could not say it, literally. Demons were
unable
to lie to their heartkeepers. It had always been that way.

          He said heavily, “Georgina, please calm down.” He started to say more, but his Galeré had finally reached him. They came to him one by one, Mihail and Adrijan both looking worse for the wear and a similarly bruised Ilie still in wolf form.

          The sight of them together – all tall, powerful-looking men and their equally powerful-looking wolf – was more than George could take. Maybe she was being paranoid, but everything suddenly felt like a nice fucking setting for a gang bang from hell.

          Some might find the idea kinky, since all three men in front of her were drop-dead gorgeous, but not her.

          Without a word, George made a run for it –
again.

          “Wait, dammit!”

          Ignoring her captor’s words, George ran as fast as she could, her heartbeat keeping up with her frantic pace. The beating sound of her captor’s wings nearly drove her insane but George continued to run.
You’re not hearing that. You’re just imagining that. You need to get out of the Woods and go back to the city.

         
A wolf suddenly leapt in front of her path and George cried out, screaming as she did her best to twist around in order to avoid running into the creature. Her ankle gave out, making her lose her balance and fall over the edge of the cliff.

          “Georgina!” Even with his body still blazing with pain, Silviu did not hesitate, diving to save his heartkeeper, willing his wings to beat as fast as it could and even so, he barely caught her in time. She was only a few feet away from certain death.

          She stared at him with dazed eyes.

         
Too. Much.

         
His Galeré followed him a moment later. “Is she fine?” Adrijan demanded.

          “She’s lost consciousness.” Silviu could barely hear his voice over the intense beating of his heart. Never had he experienced this much fear for another being – or at least, not since his mother had died.

          “Good,” Mihail said.

          Silviu’s head snapped towards the half-vampire.

          “She will cause you less problems this way,” Mihail responded unapologetically. “You need to go back to your castle and recuperate. You still
feel
weak and if we can sense this, then surely the other demons in the land can sense it, too.”

         
I hate to agree with Mihail, but he has a point, Your Grace,
Ilie said.

          “I always do,” Mihail said without a smile.

          Adrijan was gazing at the darkened skies with a frown on his face. “We must leave now. Dawn is still hours away. There could be another attack.” He lifted a hand, and in seconds yet another wave he could surf on rose from the ocean and pulsed towards him. Adrijan leapt on it. “I will make sure all of our people will get back safely.”

         
Let us go, Your Grace,
Ilie urged, his tone serious now.

          Silviu nodded. He whistled and Granite came, both of them injured and too weak to fly. It went against everything he stood for to leave his people behind but for now, he knew he would serve them better by discovering why his body was still in pain, as if it was rejecting the soul that was being shared with him.

****

          “Consummated,” Silviu echoed hours later as dawn broke outside his castle, bathing the gargoyles lining his library with golden rays that only made their grotesque features appear even more hideous.

          Following Silviu’s gaze, Adrijan almost shook his head. As his cetus lineage gave him an inherent love for beauty and nature, he could not understand the duke’s fascination with such terrible looking creatures.

          Gargoyles had once been to demons what dog was to man, and because of the emotional bond that had surprisingly formed between the two races, Lucifer had ordered his demon lords to kill the entire race.

          As a half-demon, Adrijan had the capacity to grieve for the plight of gargoyles, but it ended there. He did not share Silviu’s intense desolation for the gargoyles, preferring to restrict his emotions only to those who mattered – and that was the Galeré and no other - not even the girl staring at him like he had just punched her in the guts.

          “Yes, Your Grace,” Maricha answered after a beat. As younger sister to Mihail, she was used to being in the presence of the duke and the rest of his famous Galeré. But what she feared she would never get used to was the way Adrijan stoically ignored her.

          Adrijan was the youngest of Silviu’s trusted circle of warriors, and most inhabitants of Brimstone assumed that it meant he was also the weakest, the most sensitive. But Maricha knew from painful experience it was the opposite. Adrijan might always have a gentle smile on his lips, but he was cold, heartlessly so – even more than her eternally pessimistic brother. 

Forcing herself to look away from Adrijan, she mumbled, “Consummation is a requirement if she indeed proves to be your heartkeeper---”

          “She is.” Silviu’s voice was inflexible in its certainty.

          “How do we know that she is his destined heartkeeper?” Mihail asked at the same time, his voice just as rigid. Dressed as always in somber black, he stood apart from the rest, next to the windows that spanned the entire length of the room, his feet braced apart like a warrior always ready to go into battle.

          Silviu asked very softly, “Do you
dare
question my decision, Mihail?”

          Almost every creature in the entire kingdom of Chalys would have quailed at the look that the duke dealt Mihail, but he did not even flinch. He had made a vow to the angel Magdalene, and he would not shirk from it – even if it meant needing to come to blows with his best friend.

          “Nearly a thousand years you had searched the world for a heartkeeper and you did not find her,” Mihail bit out. “Just when you are ready to die for the kingdom, she appears out of the blue? Doesn’t that feel a little too convenient?”

          “While I do not want this to be a habit,” Ilie drawled, “I must agree with Le Marquis di Sangre.” Back in his human form, Ilie was dressed in black and white, his rich burgundy coat tossed carelessly over the back of the gilded armrest where he lounged. His posture might be one of lazy indolence, but as the people around him knew him well, none of them were fooled by it.

          Ilie was a ruthless killer, a predator to the very core, as was typical of the Lunare’s shapeshifting bloodlines.

Gentling his tone for the sake of Maricha, whom all of them looked upon as a little sister, Ilie asked, “Tell us, Maricha. Is there a way we may ascertain that the human girl is indeed the duke’s intended heartkeeper?”

Maricha bit her lip, her gaze snaking to Adrijan. She knew she shouldn’t do so, knew that he would be angry with her for doing so, but she could not help it.

Adrijan’s face remained unreadable, but for just the smallest moment, fury sparked in his eyes as he gazed at her.

Maricha looked away. Clearing her throat and hoping that her pain wouldn’t color her voice, she said awkwardly, “I have done my best to seek the answer to this myself. But as far as I can tell, it is only the duke himself who would know.”

Silviu said levelly, “And as I have said earlier, I am
certain
she is my heartkeeper.”

Ilie raised a brow. “There is no possibility of witchcraft being involved?”

Silviu shook his head sharply. “None.”

Mihail did not appear convinced but for now, it was clear he had decided to hold his tongue.

“The consummation then,” Adrijan said after a while. “What of it?”

And here came the hard part
, Maricha thought. She said with the utmost care, “As you know, when His Grace’s mother…escaped, the demon lords sent imps to raze the libraries in their own domains to ensure that no one would ever learn the secrets to heartkeeping. The texts I’ve managed to find were all stolen from Sulphur’s own libraries but they do not say much, only that your powers as a demon will remain weak until the union has been consummated.”

“For the purpose of clarity,” Ilie inserted dryly, “by consummation you do mean
sex,
right?”

Maricha colored.

A wicked grin curved on the wolf-demon’s lips. “That she blushes at such a word means you have guarded her well, Mihail.”

          “I only told her to avoid men who remind her of even the slightest bit of you. Obviously it’s enough,” Mihail replied smoothly.