Bound By Vengeance Read online

  Suddenly, she couldn’t breathe.

  Liam grabbed her arm and bodily hauled her up the stairs. The little demons were right on their heels, snarling and searching for an opening.

  He cut them down as they backed away, his blade moving too fast for her to see. His entire focus was on her safety. She could feel determination vibrating through their connection, dwarfing all other thoughts.

  He didn’t yet know that she’d failed him. Failed her family. Again.

  The weight of her guilt nearly crushed her. She locked her knees to keep herself on her feet while Liam finished off the few remaining demons. Her breath came out in heavy bursts that were nearly sobs.

  Inside she felt hollow. Scraped clean of her will to do . . . anything.

  She’d caused Daren’s death, and now she couldn’t even face her parents and tell them that she’d avenged their only son. And on top of that, her failure had robbed Liam of the one thing he wanted most—the power to keep fighting.

  Dakota didn’t want to see the look of disappointment on his face, so she turned away and stumbled toward the truck. The tentative nudge inside her mind told her he was poking around up there, so she shoved him out and closed up shop. As much as she liked feeling him so close, it was too much of a risk. If seeing his disappointment was bad, feeling it flowing through their connection would be ten times worse.

  It was best if she cut her ties to him now. Her failure meant they wouldn’t be together much longer. Once the night was over . . .

  She wasn’t good enough for him, anyway. He deserved to be bound to a woman who didn’t let all the people around her down, a woman who was more careful, stronger. She wanted that for him. The world needed him to find the perfect partner.

  Dakota stripped off the face shield and leather coat and let them fall to the ground outside the Jeep. Liam was only a few steps behind her. She kept her eyes on the ground and fought the urge to cry like a child.

  Once she was alone, she’d let herself cry, but until then, she’d hold it together. There was no way she’d let Liam’s last memories of her be of her showing weakness.

  “What are you doing?” he demanded.

  “The fight’s over. I’m leaving.”

  He grabbed her arms and turned her to face him. “Look at me.”

  She stared at his chin, but that was as close as she was getting.

  “You still haven’t figured it out yet, have you?”

  “Figured what out?”

  “What you and I have going right now is rare. I’ve been searching for a woman like you for centuries.”

  “It doesn’t matter now. My promise was to stay with you if we killed the demon. We didn’t.”

  His voice was ragged, almost feral. “Do you think I don’t know that? I’m acutely aware that we only have a few hours left until tonight is over—until my luceria falls off and I’m back to where I was before. And in that few hours, I plan to inflict as much harm on the Synestryn as possible. So will you.”

  He actually thought she could help? If she hadn’t felt so awful, she would have laughed. “You saw what little help I was. I nearly suffocated us to death.”

  “That’s not what this is about. You’re feeling sorry for yourself. You’re pissed because you didn’t get your way, and you’re worried about what your family will think. I get that. You’re dealing with a ton of emotional shit right now, but that doesn’t change reality. We have a job to do, and we’re going to do it.”

  “I’ll screw up again,” she said.

  “Maybe. Maybe not. But that nest isn’t going to go away unless we make it happen. So that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to go back down there and you’re going to send as much firepower as you can down that tunnel. Then we’re going to collapse those stone walls down into the cellar so that nothing else can hide there during the day. Understand?”

  She looked up at him then, unable to believe her ears. Behind the clear face shield splattered with droplets of black blood, his jaw was set with determination, and there was a wild desperation in his eyes that she’d never seen before. “Why is this so important?”

  “Because there are people out there who need us to do this. They’re helpless, just like you were when the demon came for your brother. And if we don’t do something, someone else’s brother or sister or child is going to be killed. Can you stand there and tell me that you’re willing to let that happen just because you’ve had a bad day?”

  “It was more than just a bad day and you know it. I needed to kill that demon. I needed to be the one to take from it what it took from me.”

  “Too bad. The demon is dead. You didn’t get to kill it. We don’t always get what we want. If you live long enough, you get used to it.”

  Liam’s words were a lie. He’d never get used to losing her, which is exactly what was going to happen in a few hours. He hadn’t had enough time to convince her to stay with him. The night was nearly over, and once it was, his luceria would fall from her neck and he’d once again be alone.

  Only this time it would be so much worse. Now he knew what he was missing, and not just losing that shared closeness and partnership. It was more than that. His feelings for Dakota ran much deeper. She wasn’t just some other fighting buddy in the trenches. He loved her.

  And because he loved her, he had to find a way to prove to her that she wasn’t the failure she thought she was.

  She wouldn’t let him touch her mind, so he couldn’t reassure her the easy way by showing her how he saw her, as a powerful force to be respected. Instead, he had to help her prove it to herself, and the only way to do that was to get back in the fight.

  Not that that would be hard. They’d only killed a small portion of the demons that lived in this nest, based on the bones he’d seen inside. And that tunnel could lead anywhere. Every demon that was now out hunting would be coming home before dawn.

  They’d be coming home to a trap.

  He lifted Dakota’s chin with one finger, forcing her to look him in the eye. “Are you with me?”

  Fear shimmered in her gaze, but she gave him a nod. “Tell me what to do.”

  Liam wasted no time. He took her back into the cellar and she sent several powerful bolts of electricity flying down the tunnel. Anything in the way of that power would have been fried.

  The smell of ozone was thick in the air. She was shaking and weak when she stopped, but that only helped to lower her defenses, allowing him to slide inside her mind again. Fear and doubt plagued her, but she wasn’t letting them control her actions.

  “We need to collapse the house. Do you think you can do that?” he asked.

  He had C-4 in his Jeep and knew how to use it, since it came in handy when he needed to close up a cave. But if Dakota was able to do the job herself, then he was going to save the explosives and bolster her confidence all at the same time.

  “I don’t know.”

  “There are two load bearing beams in the cellar holding the floor of the house up. All you have to do is knock them over and gravity will do the rest of the work.” He sent her a mental image of what he meant as he spoke.

  “I’ll try.”

  Liam could feel dawn creeping up on them. In the distance, he heard the first, distant howls of Synestryn heading home after their hunt.

  Power fled him in a rush as Dakota pulled it into herself. The ground under the house trembled. As he peered down the stone steps leading into the cellar, he saw dirt raining down. The wooden beam he could see began to move and then stopped.

  Dakota let out a whimper of effort and the flow of power between them increased.

  Liam slid his left hand under her hair until the two parts of the luceria connected, easing the flow of power.

  A defiant yell ripped from her mouth, and the beam slipped sideways. The floor toppled into the cellar, and one of the walls fell in on top of it. A plume of dust erupted from the cellar as it was sealed up tight.

  Now the demons had nowhere to hide from the sun. All
they had to do was keep them occupied until the sun came up.

  Dakota slumped with fatigue. Liam caught her by the arms and eased her to the cold ground. There wasn’t much time left before the cellar’s inhabitants came home, and by that time, she needed to be on her feet and able to fight.

  Liam planted his fingers on the cold ground, digging them through dead weeds until he felt soil. Energy from the earth seeped into him, and he fed it to Dakota to help restore her strength—at least for a while.

  Even as he felt it happen, he marveled in it. This was how his life was supposed to be—a woman to fight by his side, one he took care of even as she cared for him. A true partnership.

  Before he had time to mourn what he would soon lose, he heard the demons coming.

  It was time to fight.

  Dakota did what she could to help Liam fight back the hoard of Synestryn that had gathered around them, but she was exhausted. She couldn’t stand, and lifting her hand to fling searing bolts of electricity at the beasts was becoming almost impossible.

  Even being afraid was too much of an effort for her.

  Liam continued to fight tirelessly, cutting down each demon as it tried to get near her. Never once did he falter or let those teeth and claws get close enough to her to do any damage.

  She panted, straining to gather up enough strength for one more blow. Sparks fizzled, dribbling from her fingertips to fall worthlessly into the cold ground.

  Hold on, she heard him whisper into her mind. It’s almost dawn.

  Dakota lifted her head enough to see the sky in the east beginning to glow.

  Before relief had time to sink in, she saw a demon slinking through the dead grass, coming up behind Liam. It was bigger than the others he’d been fighting, with a bloodstained muzzle and glowing eyes barely visible beneath its heavy brow.

  Instinctively, she sent Liam a silent warning, showing him what she’d seen.

  He couldn’t turn and face the new threat. She actually felt him make the decision to finish off the demon in front of him—the one closest to her—before protecting his back. He shifted slightly as he attacked, but now his left side was open and vulnerable.

  He wasn’t going to make it in time. She had to stop the new threat herself. She had no idea how she’d find the strength, but she had to try. She couldn’t let Liam die.

  Dakota ignored the ache radiating through her bones as she siphoned off more of his power. The connection between them stretched and shuddered as it tried to make room for what she demanded. Her eyes burned. Her body felt like it was made of cast iron—brittle and heavy. She didn’t have the strength to lift her arm. She could barely force her chest to rise and fall enough to fill her lungs with oxygen.

  Power built inside of her, gathering like storm clouds and crackling with electricity. The demon’s body coiled to pounce. If she didn’t let the energy free, she was going to be too late to stop the demon. But her arms wouldn’t move. Even her fingers were too heavy.

  Determination rose within her, churning alongside her guilt and frustration. More power flooded her until there was no more room to breathe. Her body couldn’t handle the strain of something so huge. She had no idea how Liam had managed to hold this all inside of him without going mad.

  Liam. He was trying to tell her something, but she couldn’t make sense of his words amidst the maelstrom consuming her world.

  The demon lurched toward Liam. Dakota was still too weak to move. She let out a scream of pain and denial, and with that scream came a searing bolt of lightning pouring from her mouth. It slammed into the demon, dissolving it into greasy black smoke.

  The sun broke the horizon just as her eyesight faded. A chorus of howling defeat rose up from the few Synestryn left alive. It was the last thing she heard before everything winked out of existence.

  Chapter Ten

  Dakota woke to find her cousin Jake sitting at the foot of her bed. Daylight streamed in through the window of her childhood bedroom.

  Her entire body was sore. Her eyes burned like someone had pickled them in lemon juice. Her throat was dry and raw. But none of that compared to the aching emptiness gnawing inside of her. She felt like she’d been hollowed out, scraped clean of everything that mattered.

  Instinctively, she reached for Liam’s mind to seek comfort, but she found only more empty echoes of nothingness.

  He was gone.

  Her hand went to her throat, finding only bare skin. No luceria.

  She tried to speak, but her throat was fused shut. Jake helped her sit up and take a few sips of water.

  “Liam called me and asked me to come,” said Jake. His face was creased with concern—a face that looked so much like her brother’s it was hard to look him in the eye. “He didn’t want you to wake up alone and confused.”

  Too late for that. She’d never felt more alone in her life, and as to confusion . . . why wasn’t he here?

  “He said you’ll be fine after you get some rest. He’s sending a couple of men here to pick you up and take you to Dabyr before nightfall.”

  “Men?”

  “Theronai warriors would be my guess. They’ll take good care of you. He gave me his word.”

  “Where did he go? Is he coming back?”

  Jake’s gaze slid to the carpet. “He said things didn’t work out with you two. That he failed you.”

  “That’s ridiculous. I was the one who screwed up. I was the one who had two chances to kill that demon and missed them both. It’s my fault. This whole thing has been my fault, everything since the night Daren . . .” She tried to stop the tears that burned her eyes from falling, but it was no use. She was too weak to care about her pride. “That’s why Mom and Dad left. I killed their son. Liam must have realized what a screw-up I was and decided to leave while he could.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Jake nearly shouted. “I’ve never seen a man so torn. He wanted to stay, Dakota. Hell, he sat in his truck for three hours before he found the nerve to drive away. I tried to convince him to stay, but he said you needed to meet the other men.”

  “What other men?”

  “The other Theronai. He said something about you maybe being compatible with one of them, and that if he stayed, he might try to convince you to do something you didn’t want. Like stay with him.”

  “You’re saying that he’s not mad at me?”

  “Hell, no. The man obviously loves you. Why else would he threaten my life if I left your side?”

  Love? There was no way a man like him could love a woman like her. She screwed up everything she touched. It was just their physical attraction talking. It had to be. “He’ll be better off with someone else,” she said, the words stinging her own ears.

  “No he won’t. Hell, chances are there may never be anyone else who can wear his luceria. Without you, he will probably die a horrible death.”

  “And even that threat wasn’t enough to make him stay. I’m worse than I thought.”

  “Don’t be an idiot. He didn’t leave because he wanted to. He left because he was trying to give you a choice. I don’t pretend to know how it works, but I do know that tying yourself to a Theronai is not a short-term thing. It’s permanent. No second chances, no divorce. It’s a big decision to make without at least looking at other options.”

  Maybe Jake was right. She’d seen Liam’s thoughts. Even though they’d only been together for a few hours, she knew him better than she’d ever known anyone else. And she’d loved everything she’d seen. He was kind, noble, selfless—just the kind of man who would leave if he thought it was best for her.

  It wasn’t. She wanted him.

  “Where is he?”

  Jake shrugged. “I have no idea.”

  “Call him. Bring him back.”

  “What if he won’t come?”

  “He’ll come. Tell him I need him. Lie if you have to, but make him come back.”

  Liam had never driven faster in his life. It didn’t take long to get back to the house where Dakota had g
rown up, because he hadn’t made it very many miles down the road. He’d dragged his feet, hesitated and made every excuse he could think of to stop, over and over. Leaving her side had been the hardest thing he’d ever done, and no amount of convincing himself it was the right thing had made it any easier.

  And now he had to go back and inevitably go through that torture again.

  Jake said she needed him—that she was in pain. He had no choice but to go. He could never deny her anything. He loved her too much, even if that meant going through the pain of walking away again and again.

  Liam ran up to the front door. Jake opened it and was standing in the doorway. He must have seen some kind of panic on Liam’s face, because he was greeted with a reassuring, “She’s fine.”

  “Then why did you call me?”

  “She asked me to. And now that you’re here, I’m leaving.”

  “No. Stay.” Liam didn’t know how long he’d be here, but knew the longer he stayed, the worse leaving would be. He needed someone here to watch over her until Samuel arrived to pick her up.

  Jake ignored him and brushed past him on his way out the door. “You’re on your own, man. Sorry.”

  Liam found Dakota sitting on the couch under a blanket. Her eyes burned a bright red from all the magic she’d channeled. Her skin was pale and her whole body trembled slightly with fatigue.

  She’d nearly killed herself last night saving his life. There was no way he would have had time to get to the demon sneaking up on his flank before it attacked. If she hadn’t been there, he wouldn’t have lived long enough to see the sun rise.

  He hadn’t thanked her for that, which made him a raging asshole.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, staying near the door. If he got close enough to her to touch her, he knew he’d regret it.

  “You left me.”

  “I’m sorry if it upset you to wake up with Jake here, but he was the only person I could trust to keep you safe while you slept.”

  “You could have stayed. Unless you had some important meeting to go to? Some crisis?”