Blue Abyss: Timewalker Chronicles, Book 3 (The Timewalker Chronicles) (31 page)

Once the threat to her was eliminated, once he knew she would live longer than a few weeks, then he’d worry about love, trust, and all that other fairy-tale bullshit Tim had lectured him about. In Raiden’s hundred and seventy-four years of life, most of it war, he’d yet to see a real life fairy tale come true.

Tim’s heart was in the right place, but the man didn’t have a clue what he was talking about. Tim was wrong. Mari didn’t love him, she couldn’t. He’d known her less than a day. She knew nothing about him, about his life, his people, or his sins. How could she love him? She didn’t know him.

Regret threatened to spill from his eyes in scalding tears so he closed them, buried his nose in her hair, and willed his body to warm hers, to feed hers, to give her the small shred of tenderness he miraculously summoned for her.

So, she didn’t know him yet. Perhaps he could change that, stay by her side until she learned him. The gods knew, she needed protection. She needed him, whether she wanted to admit it or not.

Perhaps she’d give him a chance to make love to her again, and he would. He’d worship her with his hands and mouth, say with his touch what his battered heart was too bloody to say with words. Perhaps there was a chance. He had nothing left to lose, except her.

She was cool lying on top of him, like she’d just come in from hours playing in the snow. He’d tried to use his gift on her, to absorb the dark energies back into himself, and, for the first time, found someone his dark power could not touch. Pulling on her power was like trying to overpower all of Earth’s energy at once. Her life force was encased in a giant shield of power, nearly infinite in scope and strength. No Triscani would ever be able to ash his woman. She was more powerful than he’d dared imagine, and he couldn’t reach her, couldn’t break through to her unless she chose to let him in. All he could do was wait and pray that whatever god she served would answer his pathetic plea. She would heal, lead him to Teagh, and then he’d convince her to trust him with herself, to love him. He’d prove he could be strong enough to protect her.

The numbness of his brother’s world, of the Triscani, hovered within, constantly vibrated through his mind like bad background music to a horror film. He’d been too close to the darkness. Nothing could change that now. He’d felt their call, would always be aware of it on the edge of his senses.

He should already be one of the Triscani. He
had
been one of them. And somehow, by some miracle, Mari had brought him back. He wouldn’t waste this second chance to start over. The dark world might call his name, but Mari owned him now. Body and soul.

He wouldn’t take her down with him. He’d have to find a way to win, to beat back the darkness and deny his innate power its destiny. Before, when the last of his men died, when he’d lost Gerrick, when his own brother had betrayed him, he’d had nothing left but his mission. He’d had no one left that mattered, nothing to lose. Now? Now he held everything in his arms.

Everything. He chanted the word in his mind like a mantra as he traced the soft contour of her back with his palms, enjoyed the rise and fall of her softly curving form from the base of her spine to her shoulders. Every time his hand passed over her Mark, a jolt of heat jumped through him and headed straight for his cock.

He ignored it, his total attention on the glide of his fingertips sliding over her skin. Yes, she would take his heat whether she wanted it or not. And when he figured out a way to beat the insidious call of his power, when he knew he’d no longer be a danger to her? He’d claim her completely. Until then, he’d hold her and pretend everything was going to be all right. He could do this all night, all damn night.

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Mari floated in the cold nothing. Sarah had told her about this place, this frigid realm with no light other than the twinkling stars of the people like her, the other Timewalkers. There were more flickering lights than she’d dared dream, and not nearly enough to hold back the absolute darkness that pressed against them.

She and the others were tiny bits of light, minuscule pinpoints like the stars at midnight, but instead of floating in in the vastness of space, twinkling and winking at her from a clear night sky, she and the other Timewalker souls anchored the darkness. Their power held the enemy at bay, a net of light that prevented death from swallowing the world whole.

That was what Mari was now, one tiny, cold light in a sea of nothing. Floating free of the network. Alone. Freezing. Being chased by the darkness.

Was this death? Or was this the Purgatory her mother often spoke of?

Did it matter?

Mari thought about that for a while. Was she ready to let go? Ready to die? Was she finished?

Hell, no. Not by a long shot. She had mad comic-book, epic-level skills now, more caves to find and more bad guys to fry. She had to find a way to help cleanse the oceans of the Triscani energy, and her new skills in the water had barely been tested. She had dolphins to swim with, sharks to hunt with, and people to save. And if she had to do it alone, then so be it. She was used to that anyway. It sucked, and it was lonely, but she was used to it.

Her heart hurt, but she’d long since learned to ignore it and carry on.

Well, if she was going to live, she’d need to find her way out of this place, wherever she was.

Marina
. A female voice called to her, filled her head. Insistent. Confident.

Mari tried to answer, but she had no body, no mouth. No breath. She thought back,
Yes. I am Mari. Who are you?

A very feminine sigh escaped her new friend and Mari spun her senses in a circle, trying to find the source.
You won’t find me. I am the dark, the space between leaves, the silence between heartbeats.

What do you want?

To reclaim those that are lost. To fight. To end the war and give Earth back to her children.

To kill.
The thought was there, but the woman didn’t express it in words and Mari didn’t push. The voice was so powerful, so ancient and so very sad.

What do you want from me?

Give Teagh a message for me?

I don’t know who that is.

You will. You protect a piece of the Lost King’s soul. You will find him. He will help you learn how to use the stones. And you must heal him.

You can’t get him a message yourself?
Mari honestly wanted to know. The woman’s power was extreme. Why did she need a messenger?

Not without revealing myself, and I’m not ready, not yet. But I will be, soon.
There was a certain stubborn pride in the lady’s voice that Mari could more than identify with. She knew what it was to be doubted by others, to be watched and constantly judged.

What’s the message?

Tell him that Katherine is in trouble. He must help her find the Black Gate.

What’s the Black Gate?

That…
The being drew Mari’s attention to the network of lights again, but this time she saw more than Timewalker souls and the thin, anchor strands connecting them. She saw the area from a far off distance. The illuminations formed a web of energy that obstructed a gaping chasm between worlds, like a locked gate suspended in outer space. That gate was bulging at the seams, straining to hold the darkness away from Earth’s energy, from humanity’s brightness, and from the worlds beyond Earth that were brighter still.

He must help her.

Katherine? Sarah’s Katie-bug?

The woman’srelief flooded her being.
Yes. The Katie-bug. She’ll die if he doesn’t find her. Promise me.

Okay. But how do I get out of here? I don’t know how to go back.

There is only one way home for you now that you’ve been lost in the dark.
The woman’s voice seemed to be coming from farther away, as if she was leaving. Mari tried to follow, but the woman’s next words stopped her cold.
Thank you, Marina. Don’t die. Go back to him.

He doesn’t want me. Can’t wait to get rid of me. Totally not interested.
Mari didn’t sugar coat it. What was the point?

The young woman laughed.
He needs you. Raiden is your home now, you’re only way home. Together you are the Sicarii, the first in over a thousand years. Feel him holding you. Feel his kiss. Hear his heart beating, and you will always find your way out of the dark…

Just like that, the voice was gone.

Mari wanted to scream at her to wait. She had so many more questions about the Black Gate, the darkness, what Sicarii meant, and the girl herself. But she was truly alone again, backstage of the biggest show in the galaxy…the war for Earth’s survival against the terrifying Triscani masses. Just what was locked behind that gate? Triscani? Something worse? And if it were Triscani, how many? Enough to devour the planet and every living thing on it?

Was she in the worst Star Trek episode ever? Where were Spock and Scottie with their awesome, last minute, brilliant yet hairbrained idea to save everyone? Why did the world’s survival depend on a twenty-six-year-old from New Mexico with no family and no math skills?

Worse, going back was going to hurt. A lot.

How many times did she have to let that arrogant asshole break her heart before she stopped…what? Loving him?

Madre de Dios.
She loved him. Had for two years now. Had loved him since the very first dream. The first kiss had sealed the deal. And making love? Heaven on Earth, at least until he’d made it something less.

Fucking. A brutal word for a brutal truth. He didn’t love her, didn’t need her, didn’t want her in his life. He’d made that very clear. Explosive passion did not guarantee a happily ever after. Amazing sex, life-altering-no-one-else-will-ever-be-this-good sex, but that was still all it was. Just. Sex.

God, she was so stupid.

And that voice, who for all intents and purposes could very well be a figment of her imagination in this place, wanted her to focus on Raiden as her way home? To think of Raiden as home? Her safe haven and her sanctuary? Perhaps in a dream.

His kiss? His touch? His heartbeat?

Was the woman a sadist or just plain mean?

Mari flitted around, so cold now that she didn’t remember what it felt like to be warm. She tried to conjure memories of her own body, the feel of water pressing down on her, of sand between her toes, the spray of a hot shower on her back after a long dive. A hard pinch to wake up.

Nothing. The thoughts came, but the memories did not. It was like speaking to herself in a foreign language where the words had sound but no meaning. She felt nothing.

Panic set in as she realized she was losing herself here. But heaven help her stupid heart, she could still remember the hot press of Raiden’s lips, the heated slide of his fingertips over her flesh, and the thundering of his heart when he…

Raiden.

Pain struck where her chest should have been and she felt a pulse rise from within her soul, a pulse that was thunder in her ears after the silence of these cold stars.

Raiden.

Mari gave in and followed the sound. She didn’t fall into her body, or shoot out of the sky like she’d seen in some movies. She blossomed from within, filling up the space her physical form occupied like hot water seeping up from some deep underground well.

And that sound, the pulsing rhythm that had called her back from nowhere, sang to her where her ear was pressed to Raiden’s bare chest. She was warm, blessedly hot pressed against him from head to toe. His hands slid up and down her back in a slow glide that brought her temperature steadily up from warm to simmering to overheated.

She wanted him. Again. Despite the long lecture she’d just given herself in that horrible void. And judging by the growing bulge pressing against her abdomen, he wanted her too.

“Mari?” His deep voice rumbled through her entire body and she tilted her head up, up, up to find him watching her.

“Hi.”

“You’re back.” He smiled and her heart broke into even smaller pieces. Why did he have to be so damn irresistible? So gorgeous. So sexy and mysterious and kissable? It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t anywhere remotely close to fair.

“Thank you…” She pressed down on the bed and slid her body up the length of his until her lips hovered just out of reach. “…for warming me up.” Was she really going to do this? Hit it and quit it? That had never been her style. Never. But she wanted him, needed him, needed to feel alive, and hot, and out of control for a while. She was newly from the darkness, the cold too close to the surface of her mind. And the dark souls that hovered within were still there, cold and hungry, waiting for a chink in her armor, waiting for her to stop fighting their call.

“Mari?” His eyes darkened with lust and his hands clenched on her back. She’d seen that look before and knew he wouldn’t resist. He wanted to ride the lightning as badly as she did. But he surprised her. “We need to talk.”