A Thousand Years (Soulmates Book 1) (8 page)

             
Anabell wrapped her arms around his neck, anchoring herself to him. She needed him to be her rock, to keep her from washing away in the storm that was coming.

             
She opened her mouth to tell him just how close she was, but she couldn't make her mouth form words. She could tell by the way he shifted his hips to drive himself even deeper that he knew.

             
Eadric was right there with her, taking her with all the strength in his body until he felt the tell-tale tremors race thought her tight muscles. She was about to come and so was he.

             
Anabell's orgasm hit first, sending her screaming and holding onto Eadric for dear life as her body shook. Eadric's hit a moment later, his swollen cock no longer able to hold up against her quivering heat. He held onto her too - afraid that the moment was a dream instead of reality. He had to feel her solidness to keep him afloat in the shockwaves of that powerful orgasm.

             
Eadric pulled out of her carefully, then threw himself down on the bed beside her. Exhausted, thoroughly spent, and well-satiated.

9

              Anabell’s world was still spinning as she came back down to earth, wrapped in Eadric’s warm arms. With her head pressed to his broad chest, she could hear his heart beating at the same cadence as hers, keeping her heart at a normal pace despite how hard it wanted to beat.

             
She nuzzled into him, closing her eyes tightly as she let herself go. There was no need to worry – she was safe.

             
Eadric kissed the top of her head and gave her a light squeeze. Yes, she was really there, in his arms, the past two nights hadn’t been a long dream. His soul was finally content because his other half was back in his life for good. Anabell wasn’t going anywhere. He felt it down deep in his bones.

             
He wanted to spend as much time as he could, holding her in his arms, but he knew that daylight was coming soon.

             
The sun was about to come up and he would be out for the day, but he knew he was out of harm's way from the sunlight. Every room was equipped with blackout curtains to keep him safe if he wanted to move around the house during the day.

             
The castle was in a deserted area that no one bothered traveling to, so Anabell would be safe during the day too, if she didn’t want to  sleep the whole time until he got up.

             
“The sun is about to rise,” Eadric whispered into Anabell’s ear. “I’ll be passed out soon.”

             
“Does that mean you need to go back to the basement? Do you have a coffin down there? I don’t even know what demons sleep in. Do you even sleep? Or do you hibernate until the sun goes back down?” she rambled, her eyes still shut tight. Eadric laughed so hard that his chest rumbled.

             
He definitely had an interesting life ahead with Anabell.

             
Eadric pried Anabell off his chest and looked down at her heart-shaped face, cupping her face in both hands.

             
"No coffins. No hibernation. No dark dungeon rooms. When the sun comes up, I get weaker and weaker until it's easier just to go to sleep instead of lying there like a knot on a log. All of the bedrooms have thick curtains on the windows to keep the sun from burning my skin. As soon as the sun comes up, I’m out until it’s down. If something happens, though, or you need anything, you can wake me and I will do what I can. Just remember, I might be a little hard to wake.”

             
Eadric felt the instant the sun broke the sky. Fatigue took a hold of him in an instant. He didn't have a second to warn Anabell as his body relaxed into the pillows and his eyes slid shut.

             
Anabell laughed as he dropped into sleep. He looked like a machine powering down as he sank into the bed. She placed a quick kiss on Eadric’s cheek and swung her legs over the edge of the bed so she could hop down. She wasn't quite tired yet, and she desperately needed something to drink and a shower. Surely, he had some tea somewhere in the kitchen. And a bathroom.

             
Maybe even explore the house a little while she was at it. If she was going to be with Eadric for the rest of the foreseeable future, she might as well get to know one of his homes right away.

             
As soon as the sun went back down, Eadric woke to find himself chained to the bed. Heavy, silver-lined shackles on his wrists and ankles pinning him down hard and pulling his limbs tight. He knew it wasn't a game - that the chains weren't Anabell's doing. She wasn’t strong enough to manipulate his unconscious body or cruel enough to use silver on him.

             
No, it had to be someone who had a bone to pick with Eadric to go through such lengths. He killed all of his human enemies the night he lost his wife. The only others had to be the band of Soulless searching for Anabell. He didn’t know any by name. His only job was to take out as many as he could.

             
Anabell. He looked around the room was best he could. She was nowhere in sight. Where was she? Had she ran away or gotten out in time to avoid whoever was behind his restraints? Was she captured, somewhere in the castle where he couldn’t find her? He needed her to be somewhere safe. Worrying about her safety would be a huge distraction.

             
He thrashed against his restraints, trying to loosen them or break them completely, but they were solid. The more he struggled, the more the metal burned his skin and bit into his flesh. He wasn't going anywhere until someone let him out of the shackles.

             
Eadric laid there screaming on the inside for seconds that felt like hours and minutes that felt like days, waiting to find out why he was chained to the bed. They were making him suffer.

             
"Stop hiding like a coward. Come out and face me," Eadric bellowed as he thrashed some more. He was desperate to know where Anabell was. He just got her back; there was no way he was going to lose her again. If he could just get out of the damned bed.

             
The silence was killing him. It was the not knowing - where she was, what she was doing, who she was with, or if she was hurt. The worst kind of torture.

             
Eadric fought the restraints until his wrists were bleeding and raw, cut almost all the way down to the bone. In between fearing the worst, he started making elaborate plans to skin his captors, slowly.

             
The room was too quiet - the whole castle was silent. Not even a rabbit scurrying in the surrounding forest. Whatever was in the castle with him was pure evil. It was the only explanation for the maddening quiet. The oppressive energy frightened them, making them too afraid to make a sound.

             
Eadric didn't have the energy to scan for the source.

             
"Deartháir," a familiar male voice called from the other side of the room. Eadric tried to find who it was coming from, but came up blank. He would have to wait until he got a little closer.

             
"Do not call me brother," Eadric hissed back angrily, twisting his body as much as he could in the direction the voice came from. "Mo dheartháir? No! Brothers do not betray each other. Brathadóir! Traitor! Let me go so you can face me like a man with honor." Eadric was too cautious to mention Anabell, on the hopes that she had gotten out of the castle before he arrived.

             
Clicking his tongue as he walked over to his prisoner, Dunstan shook his head at his old friend – a wicked smile on his face as he reveled in the look of shock and betrayal. 

             
Eadric fought the bonds harder at the sight of his most trusted soldier and friend standing over him, smirking. Dunstan was the last person he thought would deign to turn against him.

             
The last time he saw Dunstan was the day he lost his family.  Aside from modern clothes, he was the same old Dunstan.

             
His sandy blonde hair hung loose in waves around his face, framing his high cheek bones and dark brown – almost black – eyes. He was a half of a foot shorter than Eadric, but what he lacked in height, he made up for in pure muscle. He was a mountain of it. The black leather jacket, white t-shirt, and jeans couldn’t hide it.

             
“You’ve always had a hot head, my old friend. You never could stand for someone to get the upper hand on you. Always running head first into things before thinking them through. It’s good to see you haven’t changed much. It makes you predictable.” Dunstan tapped the footboard with his foot. He walked back and forth around the bottom of the bed where Eadric could see him best.

             
Eadric glared at him. He was already tired of Dunstan’s gloating. He only wanted to know one thing: Why?  Dunstan had no reason to harbor ill will against him - Eadric had always treated him like a brother, a confidante, and a friend. They were raised together – born just a few weeks apart. He had just assumed Dunstan took over control of the clan in his absence, not that he would become a creature like him.

             
"Release me, Dunstan," Eadric roared. If the silver hadn't been draining his strength, he would have broken the bed frame already and had Dunstan nailed to the wall for it

             
“That’s not how this is going to work, Eadric. You like to do things unfairly, so this will be right up your alley."  Reaching into his pocket, Dunstan pulled out a small dagger and unsheathed it. Eadric could barely see it, but he knew the shape enough to know that the dagger bore his family crest. Dunstan gave no warning as he plunged the dagger high into Eadric's thigh.

             
Eadric swallowed a scream. He wasn't going to let Dunstan see him in pain.

             
"Why are you doing this?" Eadric asked, straining to sit up and make eye contact with Dunstan. "We were family."

             
Dunstan laughed, cackling loud enough for his voice to echo around the large room. He tapped the hilt of the dagger, making it cut deeper into Eadric’s leg. Eadric just gritted his teeth and continued looking at Dunstan.

             
“You turned your back on your entire clan the night Deirdre was killed. Abandoning us with no word. There was chaos and descent throughout – for weeks, months. Brother killing brother to take over your place. While you were busy becoming
this
and destroying Quinlan to get your wife back, our clan was self-destructing. They torched my house with my wife in it because they saw me as a threat. Brannagh did
nothing
to deserve a death like that. She was pregnant,
pregnant
, with our first. A girl we were going to call Aibhilin.

             
“After years of her losing babies, we were finally days away from having our little girl in our arms, and she was ripped away from me. Never once did I get to hold her or see her face. You abandoned our clan! My wife's and my daughter's blood is on your hands, Eadric. They were the only things I had in the world - you were supposed to keep us safe!"

             
Dunstan lost control of his emotions and jerked the dagger back out of Eadric's leg, then brought it back down in the same spot. Rage burned white hot through his body. The only thought in his head was how badly he wanted to destroy Eadric.

             
Eadric didn't deserve to draw a breath while his wife and daughter were dead - they didn't even have a cemetery plot because there wasn't enough of either left to bury by the time he got there.

             
As soon as he reached his house, it was engulfed in flames and already burned beyond saving. He tried to run in and find her, but one of his clansmen was there to hold him back – he would have died in the flames too. He had to wait for the house to burn down.

             
In that instant, Dunstan knew exactly how Eadric had felt when he came home to find his wife and children massacred. He was ready to curse the gods, destroy his clan, and kill himself.              

             
Lugh did not seek him out like he had with Eadric, despite the ferocity of his wrath. He called on every God he knew to save her soul. Lugh refused him because he would not allow Dunstan to use his act of revenge on his precious Eadric, and he didn’t believe Dunstan was a good investment.

             
“Your god is not the only one who makes packs for souls.”

             
Arawn was the last - the god of the underworld was the only one willing to take his plea. Even with the terms they came to, he was still not allowed to kill Eadric right away because he was protected.  He settled for destroying the rest of his own clan – one by one.              

             
Unlike Lugh, Arawn could not guarantee that he would bring Brannagh back - in any form. Even though it was what he wanted most, revenge on Eadric was worth it. He would seek out his lost love in the afterlife when Eadric’s blood was on the ground, when he could finally have peace.

             
“Without my wife and my children, I would not have been the leader the clan needed anyway. You always knew that you were my second in command. You could have gotten things under control and saved the clan yourself. It was your responsibility to take over in my absence,” Eadric said.

             
Dunstan was tired of listening to Eadric.

             
In his other pocket, Dunstan had a two-inch pure silver coin. He took it out, careful not to burn too much of his own skin and forced it into Eadric’s mouth, right in the center of his tongue. Smoke poured from Eadric’s mouth and out his nostrils as the silver began its work, searing all of the flesh it could reach. The skin was melting around it.

             
“Now, you can’t call out for your precious god.” Eadric tried to spit the coin out, using his already burning tongue to try and force it out. He almost had it out when Dunstan walked back over to him and slammed his mouth shut, holding his bottom jaw tight against the top.