Bound By Vengeance Read online

  “The human?” He seemed desperate for her answer, which only confused her more.

  “Of course he’s a human. What the hell, Liam?” She flattened her hands on the hard planes of his chest and pushed. “Let me go.”

  He loosened his grip and she shoved away from him.

  He stumbled back, holding his stomach as if someone had punched him. All the color leeched from his skin, leaving behind a sick kind of yellow tint.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” he said, though it was more of a groan than a word. After several deep breaths, he took a couple steps to the side and sank down onto her parents’ worn, plaid couch.

  Worry for him made her hover nearby, but for all she knew this was some kind of trick to keep her from going hunting tonight. She wasn’t sure how he could make his skin pale on command, but the Theronai had all kinds of magic powers she didn’t understand.

  Kind of like the way she couldn’t understand how she could see a trail leading to the demon that killed Daren.

  Liam looked up at her, and she was struck once again by how beautiful he was. His long, dark hair hung just over his broad shoulders in sleek waves. He was taller than all the men she knew, with a muscular build that his leather jacket and tight jeans couldn’t hide. A thin scar lined his jaw, so faint it was hard to see. It made her wonder just how long ago he’d been hurt.

  She knew his kind lived a long time, that they were lethal, dedicated warriors. Her parents hadn’t trusted the Sentinels, but Jake did. He was the leader of the Defenders now. He’d told her how his father had tried to kill the Sentinels—blow up them and the human children they protected. Jake had also told her that the Defenders had had it all wrong. Not only had the Sentinels not been working with the Synestryn, they’d been working to kill them all off. For centuries.

  Liam was the only one of their kind that Dakota had met, but even that brief few minutes of watching him—of feeling things for him she had no business feeling—had convinced her that Jake was right. These were good men on the right side of the war.

  And now here he was in her living room, trying to stop her from doing what she knew was right.

  “I need to leave now.” The trail she could see only three nights a month, during the dark nights of the new moon, had started to solidify as darkness fell across the land. It had taken her a few months to figure out what it was she was seeing, but now she knew. It was hope—hope that she might be able to sleep at night again, that she wouldn’t break down crying all the time, that she might have some kind of life worth living. That she might trust herself to be near those she loved again.

  “Things have changed,” he said, his voice strained. “There’s something you need to know.”

  “You’re not going to be able to convince me to stay home. I’m killing the fuckers that killed my brother. End of story.”

  Liam nodded and looked up at her with those pale blue eyes. There was power lurking there. Desperation and pain. Hope. Lust.

  So much intensity hit her all at once that she stumbled back, hitting the coffee table.

  Liam caught her before she could fall and pulled her onto his lap.

  Again, that fogging sense of peace flooded her at his touch, driving away all need for her to do . . . anything.

  “What are you doing to me?” she asked.

  He cradled the side of her face in his hand, staring into her eyes in a way that was too intimate, like he knew her secrets. “You are so beautiful.”

  His compliment made her toes curl in delight, but she couldn’t let him distract her. She had a job to do. “Let me up,” she whispered, but there was no force behind her words as she’d intended.

  Raw, potent need vibrated through his voice. “I’ve been looking for you for centuries. I can’t believe I’ve actually found you.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  He held out his big hand, and the ring he wore—the simple, iridescent band of the Theronai—swirled with a mix of blues the color of tropical waters. It was beautiful and mesmerizing, sucking her attention in and holding it tight.

  His hand moved to his neck, and she followed the motion until the choker around his throat caught her eye. Blues danced within that band as well. As she stared at them, a hunger began to fill her. She wanted that necklace. No, it was more than want. It was a need.

  Dakota reached up and slid her finger along the band, reveling in the slippery heat and sparking pleasure she felt lurking there.

  “I don’t know how it’s possible,” said Liam, “but you’re one of us. A Theronai.”

  His words slammed into her, breaking the hypnotic hold that had gripped her. She looked into his pale blue eyes, searching for signs of a joke, but all she saw was desire.

  She started to scramble off his lap to put some distance between them, but Liam’s big hands grabbed her hips, holding her in place.

  “Not yet,” he said, a hint of a warning growl in his tone. “I’m not ready for the pain to come back.”

  “Pain?”

  “More than you can imagine. I live with it every day, feeling it growing inside of me, trying to crush the soul from my body.” His hand moved to the small of her back, sliding under her shirt. “Touching you makes it go away.”

  Shivers raced up her spine, emanating from the tip of each of his fingers. No other man had ever made her feel like this—made her want things she couldn’t even name.

  “What are you doing to me?” she asked. “I need to go.” She couldn’t remember exactly why she needed to go, but she knew there was something important she was supposed to do. Tonight.

  “I can give you power,” he said, his tone coaxing. “Enough to kill the demon that killed your brother. All you have to do is take it from me.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I know. I don’t want to trick you, but I need this, Dakota. I need you.”

  There was no way a man as strong as Liam needed her, but the idea that he might was potent, going to her head. She was more than merely tempted, she was enthralled by the idea, willing to do whatever he wanted. “Okay.”

  His fingers tightened against the small of her back, sending shards of warmth sinking into her. She let out a long sigh of pleasure.

  “Take my luceria,” he whispered.

  She didn’t understand. Her mind was fogged with too much sensation. Wherever he touched, electricity and heat arced between them, sparking along her nerves and racing to flood her mind.

  Dakota opened her mouth to tell him that she didn’t know what he meant, but she got distracted by his eyes, by the way his pupils expanded as he looked at her, and the desire she saw lurking within his gaze.

  She’d thought he was hot when she’d first met him a few months ago, but the pull he had on her was stronger now, dragging her closer, making her want things she knew she could never have.

  She traced her finger over the scar on his jaw, feeling the slight roughness of stubble along his skin. He closed his eyes and groaned. A muscle bunched under her finger as he gritted his teeth. His fingers tightened at her back, and he pulled her closer to him—close enough that she could feel his erection hard against her hip.

  He wanted her.

  Excitement spun through her limbs until she shook with the power of it. Men like him could have any woman they wanted, and yet his desire for her was obvious. He wasn’t even trying to hide it.

  She had to get closer, get more of him.

  Dakota shifted positions, sliding one leg over his lap so that she straddled him. Something hard dug into the skin above her knee, but she couldn’t see anything in the way. He tugged her forward until she could feel the heat of him against her abdomen and breasts, and all thoughts of discomfort fled her mind.

  Her body went soft and liquid, melting into him. Humming warmth wrapped around her, filling her mind with contentment and her body with languid need.

  His voice was low, with a rough edge of hunger. “You make me want . . . everything.�
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  That sounded good to her. She wasn’t entirely sure what everything entailed, but if it felt half as good as being near him did, she was game. “Okay.”

  Liam growled, the sound filled with both warning and challenge. “You tempt me.”

  “I sure as hell hope so.”

  “You don’t understand what I want from you.”

  She pressed her hips forward until she could feel the thick ridge of his erection against her mound. A trilling shock of pleasure blasted out from her core, causing her voice to shake uncontrollably. “I think I have an idea.”

  “No. You don’t. But you will.” He grabbed her hands and brought them up to his neck. “Take it. Take my luceria.”

  Her fingers slid around the warm band. It was tight at first, but seemed to stretch to make room for her to grip it.

  Heat poured from the slick metal, sliding up her arms and neck. She wanted to feel that heat circle her throat, wanted to see the hypnotic swirl of blues wrap around her neck.

  As if her desire to possess the band had unlatched it, it came free of his neck and spilled over her fingers, supple and warm.

  Excitement widened Liam’s eyes. He looked at her, then at the necklace, then back at her. As his gaze met hers, something within him shifted. He’d been coaxing before, but now his body went tight, his mouth hardening with demand.

  “Put it on,” he ordered.

  Dakota hesitated. As much as she wanted the necklace, she couldn’t help but think that there was something more going on here—something profound and life-changing.

  “I don’t know if—”

  One second she was straddling his lap, the next she was lying back on the couch with his big body between her thighs, his weight pressing her into the cushions. One hand cradled the back of her head while the other held him propped over her, caging her in.

  “Put it on,” he repeated more forcefully.

  She couldn’t think, not with his body hovering over hers, so warm and powerful. His weight atop her was a delicious distraction, and the sight of his mouth only inches from hers was a temptation she had to struggle to resist.

  Electric streamers of sensation sank into her wherever he touched, coalescing low in her abdomen. The feeling didn’t lessen her confusion, but it made it seem insignificant—a miniscule, meaningless annoyance easily tossed aside.

  Dakota wasn’t going to get another chance like this one—to be with a man worthy of dreams and legends—and she sure as hell wasn’t going to let it go to waste.

  She clamped her legs around his hips and looped her arm around his neck. His lips parted slightly. She didn’t know if he was surprised or about to speak, but she wasn’t letting the opportunity pass her by. Whatever magic there was between them was too powerful to be anything but fleeting. She was grabbing it while she could.

  Grief and guilt had plagued her world for so long that she’d almost forgotten what it was like to feel good, and she wasn’t about to let Liam go until she’d wrung all the pleasure from him she could find.

  She pulled herself up until her lips met his. Energy jolted between them, making her mouth tingle at the touch of his. His lips were softer than she would have expected—completely unlike the rest of him. She could smell a hint of winter on his skin, but all that stood between them was heat.

  Her clothes raked against her. She needed to get out of them and feel his body against hers, with nothing between. Only when they were naked would she be satisfied.

  Liam gripped her hair in his fist, holding her back, keeping their kiss gentle and teasing despite her need to consume him. His lips moved over hers—too soft and light to ever fill the hunger raging inside of her. She needed all of him.

  “Put it on,” he whispered against her mouth. It was a plea now, rather than an order—one she had trouble resisting.

  But if she gave into him, she’d have to stop kissing him, and that wasn’t something she was willing to do. “Need more.”

  “I’ll give you anything you want. Anything.”

  “I want you.”

  He let out a rough groan. His body went rigid, and she could feel his cock throb beneath his jeans.

  Naked. She needed them naked.

  “I can’t,” he choked out, and a second later, he lunged away, ripping himself free of her grasp.

  Dakota laid there for a second, panting and aching, trying to figure out what had gone wrong.

  Liam was on the floor, curled into a ball, shaking and making a horrible gurgling sound of pain.

  Panic burned away the fog of lust and confusion, giving her space to think. Something was wrong with him. Really wrong.

  She rolled off the couch and crouched by his side. His powerful body trembled. He was pale again, and his breathing was labored.

  Dakota reached for him, but he flinched away. “Don’t.”

  Her hand fell away. The luceria was wrapped around her fingers, clinging to her skin.

  Put it on.

  He’d said that more than once. Even when she was kissing him like some kind of hormonally possessed teenager. It had to be important.

  She didn’t know what else to do to help him—and he really needed help—so she grabbed the blunt ends of the luceria and brought them around to the nape of her neck.

  The band shut with a quiet snick.

  Liam’s breathing evened out and his body began to unclench. He looked at her neck, his usually pale eyes dark and bloodshot. Color was returning to his skin, but when he reached out, his hand trembled. He ran one finger over the band around her throat, his face a mask of reverence and disbelief.

  “I don’t know how this is possible,” he said, “but I’m not letting you get away.”

  She didn’t understand what he meant until he started to undress. His jacket came off, then his shirt, baring his chest.

  An image of a tree covered the left side of his body, overlaid on smooth, hard muscles and tanned skin. The branches reached up all the way over his shoulder and the roots stretched down below his waistband. She marveled at the intricate detail of the tree, so lifelike she swore she could hear it creaking as it swayed with each one of his rapid breaths. Most of the limbs were bare, but a few leaves clung precariously to the tips of branches here and there. They seemed to flutter and glisten, moving in a way that wasn’t possible.

  She’d heard stories of the living mark the Theronai wore—of the tree that grew as they did. Died as they did. She’d thought it was more myth than reality, but now that she was staring at Liam’s lifemark, she knew the stories were true.

  Dakota laid her hand on the tree, shocked by the heat of his body when she’d expected to feel the cool roughness of bark beneath her fingers. Liam flinched slightly and his abdomen clenched, displaying delicious muscle.

  She trailed her finger down the trunk, following it to where the roots began to expand beneath his low waistband. The ridge of his erection was unmistakable behind his jeans, and as her hand neared, it pulsed toward her.

  He truly was a beautiful man. Dakota hadn’t been with anyone in a long time. She’d barely been able to stand the company of others, much less any sort of intimate contact. But Liam was different. He didn’t grate against her nerves or suck all the oxygen from a room. She didn’t know much about him, but what she did know she liked. A lot. And here he was, half naked and hers for the taking.

  She had never wanted anyone half as much as she wanted Liam.

  Dakota grabbed the top of his jeans to free the button.

  His hand covered hers. “Not yet.” He pulled a sword out of thin air.

  Shock rocked her back and she tried to snatch her hands away from him, but he held her wrist firmly in his grip.

  She’d heard stories of the invisible blades of the Theronai, but until now she hadn’t realized he’d been wearing one. That explained what she’d felt digging into her skin when she’d had her thighs wrapped around his hips.

  The sight of bright steel halted her efforts to unbutton his jeans. “What are you
doing?”

  He used the sword to score the skin over his heart. “My life for yours, Dakota.”

  Don’t bleed. That was rule number one. The demons could smell some people’s blood and would come. She was certain that a man like Liam would have enough magical blood running through his veins for them to smell him from a long way off.

  She grabbed his shirt in a panic and tried to cover the bleeding, but he dropped his sword and held both her hands before she could.

  Panic was crawling up her throat, but she managed to choke out the words, “They’ll smell your blood.” That’s what had brought the demons here before, the night her brother was killed.

  Liam’s voice was calm and reassuring. “It’s only a little. And it’s necessary for the bonding.”

  “Bonding?”

  He gathered a bit of blood on the tip of his finger and smeared it across the necklace she now wore. “Give me your vow, Dakota. Seal us together and you’ll have power—more than you can imagine.”

  More stories from her childhood began bubbling to the surface as she realized what he was asking. “You think I’m like you?”

  “I know you are. Only a Theronai could remove my luceria.”

  “I’m human.”

  He shook his head. Long, shiny locks of dark hair fell over his shoulder. “You’re like me. And we don’t have much time before they smell my blood. Give me your vow. Promise to stay with me forever.”

  Any vow she gave one of his kind would be binding. She didn’t know him well enough for anything like that, no matter how good he’d seemed or how much his body called to hers.

  She stood and backed away. “I can’t.”

  He was on his knees, shirtless and too beautiful to be real. He reached for her, but she evaded his grasp. If he touched her now she might be swayed to do what he asked. She wasn’t ready for that. She couldn’t move forward with her life until Daren’s killer was dead.

  “You must. We need each other.”

  “I don’t need you.”

  His stomach muscles tightened as if she’d hit him. “You do. Without me you’ll never have the power you were born to possess. You’ll be only a weak shadow of what you were meant to be.”