Between the Waters (Symphony of Light) (8 page)

I sliced the knife across my wrist. As the sweet-smelling red liquid bubbled to the surface, I dripped the droplets onto Clarence’s lips. Not enough.

I squeezed and cut, but only a small amount surfaced. Using magic left the caster low on blood. Cyril warned about that too. After all it was why he had fangs. But the sharp aroma wafting from my wrist made me realize the horror of the situation. The sweet scent from the monster was the smell of Cyril’s blood.

They used Cyril’s blood to make the beast.
Oh my God.
However troubling the situation, it might have been the only thing that could save my situation. I wasted no time. I slit the beast’s throat and allowed its blood, which was still warm to the touch, to flow into my cupped hands. I then allowed it to drip into Clarence’s open mouth. Another slice. Another serving. Several handfuls later and I collapsed to the forest floor and waited.

In only my bra and underwear, surrounded by my dead friends and a mutant animal created from the blood of my love, I cried. “Cyril, you son of bitch. I could really use some advice.”

I had decided that curling up into a ball and joining them in death seemed like a pretty good idea when Clarence’s foot impacted my ass. I darted into an upright position and watched as he moved his limbs. I hadn’t noticed that while I was wallowing, Clarence was healing. In place of the ragged torn skin was new, smooth chocolate-colored flesh.

I hesitated, unsure of what to expect. He sat up, stared at me, and lunged.

Rolling to my side, he missed. On his hands and knees he looked at me and hissed, “Who are you and what did you do to me? You tried to kill me.”

“No, I saved you.” I backed away and made it to my feet.

He glanced at Lance and then the beast. “You expect me to believe that? You bitch.”

“Oh, shit.” He was healed. I wasn’t. The best thing to do now was run, get to a place with a signal, call Overton, and have him and the guys contain Clarence until we could explain everything. Running was my best option.

He picked up the large branch.

“Clarence, put that down. I can explain everything.”

“Clarence? I don’t think I need an explanation.” He swung the branch at my head.

I ducked, but I was weak. I’d never make it through hand-to-hand with him.

Fuck. I turned and took off.

The trees zipped by, and the rushing water grew louder. Following downstream to civilization seemed like my best bet.

Once I reached the small river, I ran along the bank and through the forest in the direction of the flowing water.

He was close. The tree line grew dense and forced me closer to the shore. I stumbled over slime-coated rocks, but a large flat boulder allowed me to pick up my pace, but not soon enough. Clarence grabbed my bra strap, scoring me with his nails. The strap snapped, allowing me to pull free.

Pushing forward with what strength I had left, I took one last glance to verify his position when my footing gave way to free-fall. Water. Rocks. Death. The last thing I remembered was the crushing sound of my bones as I landed on rocky peaks below, not lucky enough to splash in the small oasis that pooled under the waterfall.
Dumb fucking luck
, was my last thought before blackness engulfed me.

Chapter Seven

Falling

“Nium parnum omsti narum. Say it. Fuck, Linden. What did you do? Say it!”

The pain was so intense, it all but drowned out Cyril’s voice.

“If you can’t move your lips, say it with your mind. Focus. You’re very near running water. It’s a source. Focus through the pain. Imagine cutting through it. You can do it. Nium parnum omsti narum.”

Cyril. I had to live. If I didn’t make it, neither would he.

“Nium…” My saliva was thick with congealed blood, and I hadn’t the strength to spit.

So I thought the phrase. Once, then twice, and then again.

“That’s it. You’re doing it.”

His words, even when infuriating, brought me comfort, confidence.

Nium parnum omsti narum
. I managed to mouth the words.

“Please, keep going. You’re getting close. Say it, focus on each syllable.”

The next attempt…success. “Nium Parnum omsti narum.”

“That’s it.”

I continued. “Nium Parnum omsti narum.” With each chant the sting of the pain receded, and in its place set a crushing numbness. At least with agony, there was something, a validation of existence. Nothingness was more frightening.

The heat started in my toes and enveloped me. My chanting grew faster and more fierce. “Nium Parnum omsti narum.”

“Linden, I’m losing you. I can’t hold the connection much longer. Don’t stop. You must live! For me. For us all. I love you.”

He was right. They all needed me. The heat drowned out the pain. I cracked open my eyes. Blood clung to my lashes. The light, flitting through the trees, stung my eyes. I tried to force them to focus, but my lids proved too heavy.

I struggled to utter words through my crusted lips. Thick, viscous liquid coated my throat. But the sensation of cold mountain water prickling my toes was welcome.

“Linden!”

The voice came from behind me. I would know it anywhere. Overton.

“Linden!”

I wanted to answer, but speech beyond the magic syllables proved impossible. Closing my eyes, I concentrated on repeating the phrase in my head. He would find me.

“Linden!”

Nium Parnum omsti narum.

“Oh, Lind…dear God.” He lifted my head with his arms.

So entranced, I needed more power. I yearned for his comfort, but my wounds were critical. More. I had to have more.

He brushed a hand over my face, smearing blood, sweat, and water. “Speak to me. Please.”

I couldn’t.

“Linden, can you hear me?” His hair tickled my face. “Fuck! She’s not breathing.”

I wasn’t breathing? How could that be? Was I already dead? I didn’t feel dead.

He tilted my head and touched his lips to mine. A rush of air filled my lungs. “I’m sorry, Cyril, but I’m breaking my promise. I will not let her die! We’ll have to take our chances.”

He placed his hands upon my chest. I halted my chant when I heard the same words falling from his lips. “Nium Parnum omsti narum.”

Slow and steady he set his rhythm. In my head, I followed his lead. His words grew louder and louder until he screamed every syllable. The rushing sound of the water falling behind me swallowed the echo. With one final cry, he slammed his fists against my chest, and a jolt ran through me.

The gasp that tore through my throat whistled and whined, my eyes flew open, and my body shuddered. I stared into the most frightened set of steel-blue eyes. He stared back, but only for a moment.

“Oh, thank God.” He placed a quick kiss upon my lips. “Where are you hurt?”

Our movements submerged my blood-soaked panties into the water, and the red stream traveled over nearby river rocks. Other than small electrical jolts, my sensation returned to normal. Overton struggled to position me. Control returned to my limbs, but it remained sluggish.

“You healed me. How?” I should have been dead. My wrist that was once sliced to save Clarence was healed. Not even a scar. “How is that possible?”

“You know, love.” He ran his hands over my skin, searching. When his gaze again connected with mine, his dilated pupils were a black abyss I longed to lose myself in.

My bones no longer ached, and the bleeding had stopped, but none of it helped the chill caused by the river.

“Cold,” I muttered through quivering lips.

Overton lifted me out of the water with ease. I expected it to hurt, but nothing. He was always so gentle that it was easy to forget his strength. And the magic was a surprise. I wasn’t sure how to interpret what happened, but it seemed my chant kept me from passing over and his brought me back to life.

He sat me on a rock and worked to remove his clothes. “I have to get you some warmth. Take my clothes.” Once he was undressed, he lifted me again. “Let me get you rinsed off to make sure you don’t have any injuries that didn’t heal.”

He picked me up and carried me to the waterfall. The spray was cold, but his skin was hot. I wrapped my arms around him, clinging to his heat. I shifted and wrapped my legs around his waist when the water pounded my back, forming a pool of blood at our feet. He was so warm.

His one arm supported my bottom, and the other brushed through my hair as the water weighed it down. My head fell back, allowing it to drown out everything but his heat.

“Do you hurt anywhere?”

“Surprisingly, no.” I extended my head further into the stream, pushing my body away from his so the water could cascade across my chest. My nipples ached from the frigid temperature.

His hard cock twitched against my ass. I lifted my head and looked into his eyes. Hunger.

“Do you have any bloody idea how badly you scared me?”

I didn’t answer him.

He twisted his fingers in my hair and looped it around his fist.

“Do you know what losing you would have done to me?

He pulled my hair tighter. This was so unlike Overton. He was unrestrained. No three-piece suit to hide behind, his hair haphazard from the waterfall mist, and the fire his skin radiated against mine scorched. I wanted his heat, every ounce he would give me.

“It would have killed me. I love you so much I’d risk death and damnation for you.” He wrenched my head back, exposing my throat. He licked the pulse line to my ear, capturing the lobe between his teeth.

“Something in me died with you in the water. I’m tired of pretending.” He flexed his hips and rubbed his cock along the crevice of my ass.

His tongue ran along the shell of my ear, then he whispered, “The future be damned. Because right here, right now, I almost lost you. I won’t waste another moment.” He lifted my bottom with one hand and with the other he grasped his cock and positioned himself at my entrance. The head poked between my folds.

He paused. “Say you don’t want this, and I’ll stop.”

I couldn’t. I needed to forget—for him to take it all away. I couldn’t go on without him. When I finally stopped to process the last few hours, he would be the only thing that saved me, not from death, but from myself. I was beyond want; with him it was need.

Instead of answering, I loosened my arms and slid down his length. The look on his face as I took him in inch by inch was one I’d never forget—awe, wonder, and ecstasy.

He groaned. “Oh God.” He put his hand on the back of my head and crushed my mouth to his, muffling my sigh.

I clung to him, savoring the feel of his heat inside me. I marveled at his gift, indulged in his moment of weakness, and prayed he’d one day forgive me when I released him. But now I too would pay a price for breaking one more rule.

He rocked his hips, starting a slow and steady rhythm. “I’ve dreamed of this so many times. But my imagination didn’t do you justice. So beautiful. So good.”

Of all the dreams I received from the men in the house, in Overton’s we always made passionate love. While the others conjured up one hell of a quality fuck, Overton always imagined using his body to show me how much he adored me.

“I will never let you go.” He slid me up and down his length while peppering kisses along my jaw.

He had been there for me through so much. “I need you, Stanton.”

“I need you more than you could ever know.” With that he turned and sat me on a large rock. I leaned back, resting on my hands on the cold, smooth surface. He stepped between my widespread legs, grasped his cock in his hand, and positioned himself at my entrance. He slid forward, encasing his heat in mine. His gaze darted from my face to where we were joined and back.

“It’s one thing to know I’m inside you, and it’s another thing to see it. Look at how perfect.” He pulled out and waited until I watched and then slowly slid back in. “Perfect.”

The sight was erotic and wholesome at the same time. There was something about trusting someone enough to invite him inside. Our connection made us one being in that moment.

He glided into me and out again several more times slowly, and then picked up his pace. He held my hips as he thrust repeatedly into my welcoming body. I had never seen such pleasure on his face.

A sudden rush hit me. “Oh, Stanton…don’t stop.”

“You know I love it when you call me Stanton. Do you know why?” His gaze connected with mine while he awaited his answer.

“No clue.” My breath rushed out with the deep thrust he made. I arched my back, pressing harder against him.

“It means you’ve given in.” He leaned forward, resting his hands on the rock and pushed deeper into me.

“But I’ll let you in on a secret. It makes me crazy every time you call me Overton. It makes me want to bend you over and fuck you until you have no choice but to call me Stanton.” He lifted my legs, spreading them, scooting my pelvis closer to the edge of the rock. This position gave him greater access to my depths.

I gasped—more from the ferocity of his thrusts than his words.

“Well, Overton, it serves you right for keeping secrets.”

He growled and buried himself as deeply as he could and held position.

I shuttered. So full. Hearing him talk that way was too much. And when he slammed again, my legs stiffened and my inner walls gripped him. Euphoria filled my head.

“Bloody hell.” His hips pistoned into me faster and faster as his face tensed. A final groan and he emptied inside me.

His chest heaved, and he reached up, touched my face, and smiled. “That was very naughty of you.”

“Like you’re in any position to talk. When were you planning on telling me you can use magic?” I wiggled.

“I wasn’t. I’ve been forbidden to use it. But it seems to be a day for breaking rules.” He pulled out of me, lifted me, turned me, and bent me over the rock. “By the way, I know what you did. You’re a bad influence on me.”

Before I exhaled my next breath, he was back inside me.

My body welcomed him. It relished his closeness.

“Every time you call me Overton, I want you to remember what’s waiting for you, when we’re alone.”