Wicked Paradise (32 page)

* * *

Two blasts shook the ground like dynamite exploding in a mineshaft. Ryan halted in his tracks. He sensed Druid magic, Morgan’s magic. Was she battling WindWraith now?

“Ah, hell!” He bellowed his aggravated inability to breach the volcano, and sprinted toward the area from where the blasts originated. Sweat ran in rivulets down his chest, soaking the waistband of his shorts. Ryan sniffed for brimstone, the telltale sign of Druid fire. Nothing but dead soil and sulfuric gases rode the air. An odor he’d smelled occasionally in the winds blowing from the north. Volcanic odors.

Another explosion rumbled beneath his feet. The mountain quaked, drawing him toward a glowing fracture in a knoll of black, shiny volcanic rock to his right. Now he smelled distinctive Druid fire and felt a tug on his link to Morgan. Unfettered relief kicked adrenaline into his blood. She was alive and something had cracked open their bond.

Excitement and anxiety fed his clambering steps atop the hardened lava mound. Holding the flame away, he peered into the crack. Crystals blazed, obscuring his vision before his eyes adjusted. Beyond the radiance lining the interior walls, his gaze landed on his treasure, laying naked on a flat stone platform.
Morgan!
Terror knotted his shoulders. He bit down on his tongue to quell his silence.

WindWraith’s black form swallowed Morgan’s body whole. Her shields held the evil from touching her body but Ryan sensed her fading fast. Her fire blasts had zapped her already depleted power.

Snarling, he flung the torch to the ground and sprinted away from the mountainside. Drawing from his internal fire, he slammed destructive spheres at the weakened fissure until he formed a tunnel large enough to fit through. Ryan crawled into the tunnel, ignoring the razor-edged stones digging into his hands and knees. Crystals cut into his shoulders as he squeezed through the tight tube. He concentrated only on saving Morgan and killing that bastard who dared touch his woman.

Several yards ahead, dazzling light raged in the inner volcano. Had WindWraith absorbed so much power that crystals no longer affected it? Had the ancient Fomorian tricked them all along? Ryan’s gut constricted. Suddenly, he felt a wrench on his bond, an infinitesimal slip in Morgan’s magic. Rapid-fire evil began sabotaging her dissolving barriers.

Ryan scrabbled through the last few feet of tunnel. Racing against WindWraith, he pitched power to Morgan along their bond, holding nothing back, not even his ether. The Fomorian’s strength had mushroomed. At the rate the evil attacked, it may only need minutes to possess Morgan completely.

Her torturous screams reverberated through the cavern and carved holes in his heart.

“No! Morgan!”

WindWraith had completely decimated her shield.

* * *

Throat burning with each sound, Morgan’s useless shrieking escalated. Ryan’s magic surrounded her, but she was unable to feel his power inside her. A hole in the volcano wall caught her rabid attention. She focused on regaining her shield, but the more magic she expended, the more territory the Fomorian gained. The weight of ages pressed down upon her, and her body prepared to implode from the force. She centered on Ryan’s ether, breathing in small gasps to keep from passing out from the smothering pain, the scorching evil attacking her from head to feet.

A cautious, earthy force latched onto her air, fire, and earth meld. Thin threads snaked outward, down the platform, to the ground. Rolling trembles belowground rocked the volcano, and ebony stones plopped into the lava and freshwater pools. Unsullied, earthy power burst into the cavern, reaching for Morgan. The island’s heart resonated strongly within her once again, working to force the dissonance away. Morgan opened herself to the currents of green power, and prepared for its expansion.

WindWraith battered her relentlessly. It loosed an almost human shout of exaltation that sliced into Morgan’s soul, fragmenting her concentration. Her last barriers shattered. WindWraith engulfed her, pinching every inch of her flesh, muscles, and bones until she grew numb. Fuzzyheaded with agony and terror, Morgan heard Ryan yell her name. She felt his torment and his magic thrashing the Fomorian. Without her elemental magic aiding him, his power wasn’t strong enough to destroy WindWraith. Once again, her magic was lost to her under the stifling, dead weight of malevolence.

A second wave of tremors beneath the earth shook the cavern. The ground rocked like a ship swaying in a sea tempest. Rocks dislodged from the walls and crumbled to the ground, sizzling in the lava pools, exposing pure crystals behind the black stone. Rubble cascaded down the shifting waterfall, splashing water in every direction. Steam spiraled in vapors, meshed with cloying dust in the air. The tunnel where Ryan’s magic stemmed collapsed inward, avalanching debris toward her platform. Another fissure widened in the wall to her left, spraying the cavern with gravel.

Morgan lost sense of Ryan completely, and for all she knew, rubble buried him. Still, she didn’t feel the soul deep sorrow if he was truly dead. Yet, as if death had claimed her, she floated in her final moments before her soul ascended. Foggy light penetrated her numb mind. Was it the Afterlife?

Another fierce rumble below the earth’s surface combined with several explosions cracked open Morgan’s consciousness. Beautiful, amber sunshine replaced the murky light in the cavern. The suffocating weight and agonizing pain dissolved. She sputtered and coughed, heaving in air. The weightless fetters had vanished, replaced by an anchoring exhaustion. Furious howls obliterated the final sounds of the volcano’s interior shattering. The island’s spirit thrummed gloriously through her veins, awakening rivers of energy, of precious life.

Morgan struggled to a sitting position. Rubble surrounded her in piles, but miraculously, the rock platform escaped damage. The island’s magic had protected her like an iron glove. Gems illuminated the cavern as bright as summer’s midday sun, providing shelter against harm from WindWraith.

She whipped her head around. “Ryan!” Anguish drove her off the platform, her knees buckling, barely managing to stand upright. WindWraith wailed, huddling in on itself in the chamber’s darkest corner.

The island’s newly awakened magic saturated her with the might of its power. Her magic flowered, fueled by the earthy gift combined with pure crystal energy. Using the glorious meld, she hauled forth a binding spell. She recited the words and blasted the spells at WindWraith. Magic circled the manic shadow, encapsulating it in a bubble the size of a warhorse. Morgan waved a finger and the seething bubble plunged to the ground.

Knife-sharp rocks cut into her feet, but she didn’t feel the pain. She scurried toward the capsule, reinforcing her restraints with every dangerous step. She viciously kicked WindWraith. “You’re mine, you son of a bastard’s whore!” The action gave her a nibble of vengeful satisfaction.

With WindWraith safely captured, Morgan began searching for Ryan. She scuttled across the cavern toward the area where she’d first spied the hole in the wall, singeing skin on lava puddles, shuffling feet through mud, screaming Ryan’s name. Gaining only pain and bloodied feet, she leaned against a mass of dead inky crystals.
Damn my muddled mind!
She hadn’t tried to use her link to Ryan.
Fool!
Inwardly, she reached for the bond. At first, she felt nothing. Then a grain of ether manifested. She dug for it and followed the seedling.

Morgan shot regenerative power along the intangible path and felt acceptance behind a mound of loose rocks to her left. Using the island’s elemental magic to bolster her own, she chipped away at the rocks, sending bits and pieces flying.

“Morgan.” Ryan’s hoarse voice was near.

Relief fueled her actions. Within moments, she’d gouged a small opening in the collapsed tunnel.

“Clear the area,” he called out, his voice stronger, louder. “Protect yourself. I’m blasting through.”

She hid behind a raised basin of lava, throwing up a barrier between them. Fire exploded and rocks sprayed the air, landing ineffectively around her. After the last rock pinged the ground, Morgan released her shield and rushed toward Ryan. No longer trapped, he lay on a bed of stony wreckage, gravel blanketing him. She picked her way over the littered ground, every cluttered tread tearing agony across the soles of her feet.

Ryan lifted his head. The ferocious hunger and love in his magnetic eyes folded her knees from under her and swamped her with the greatest sense of love and belonging. She had finally arrived home after a lifetime away from the man dreams were made from.

Ryan shrugged off the grit carpeting him. She held out her hands, and air currents blew the rest of the dirt and pebbles off his backside and legs. It was no dream.

Nothing felt real until he cupped her face in his large hands, a gesture she had grown to adore. Love blossomed across his face, and he bent his head, grazed his mouth over hers. She linked her arms around his neck, smashing her naked breasts to his dirty, bare chest. His kiss became passionate, drenching her with reverence. It possessed her in every way she wanted it to, relinquishing a lifetime of needs and wants. A kiss to drown in, to live a lifetime within.

Chapter 31

“I thought I’d lost you.” Ryan’s voice cracked and his trembling joined hers.

Sympathy and guilt sprinkled holes in Morgan’s relief. She had caused him to feel that way, and she never again wanted to see him in such anguish. Tears welled up. “I thought I had lost you, too.”

Ryan snorted. “What a pair we make.” His iron arms bore her closer to him. Fury flashed in his eyes, and he scanned the wreckage around them. “Where’s WindWraith?”

“In that far corner.” She flicked her hand over her shoulder. “Don’t worry, the wretched scourge is contained.”

Ryan exhaled heavily. He released her and pulled off his T-shirt. “How long can you hold it?” He slipped the shirt over her head. “Sorry, it’s filthy.”

Morgan smiled, tugging the shirt down over her dust-streaked torso. “I don’t know where my clothes are, so it’s better than nothing.”

A sultry grin transformed Ryan’s ashy face. “I rather like the naked you.”

Morgan leaned forward, touched her lips to the healing tattoo on his chest. “I rather like the naked you, too. I’m sure if you had your way, we’d never wear clothes.”

Ryan groaned. “But now’s not the time to put the policy in motion.” His grin faded. “How much time did you buy us?”

Morgan swept up her loose hair, shook out dust and grit. “I’m channeling energy from the island. It’s not going anywhere for a few days.” She tossed her ponytail over her shoulders.

Ryan’s brows peaked. “Days? Thank the stars we won’t need that long.”

Suspicion edged through her and she clutched her throat. “You mean to take it inside you now? In your weakened state?”

He hooked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “My love, if you’d only remained behind. I’d decided the safest thing for the world was to destroy the Fomorian completely.”

Morgan’s heart leapt. A cautious happiness crept upward from the pit of her stomach. “I thought—”

He touched his forefinger to her lips, then raised her off the littered ground, nestling her in his arms. “Let’s get out into fresh air.”

Slow and cautious, he carried her through the rubble to a gaping hole in the mountainside. Gems blazed along the newly exposed tunnel walls, the radiant light crushing the dawn sneaking into the volcano’s hull. They emerged onto a bleak landscape of dead and dormant vegetation. Scattered young shoots of greenery had already begun to reclaim the brown land.

Ryan set Morgan on a smooth patch, his hands spanning her waist. Her feet were so grimy with dirt and blood, she hardly felt the pain, didn’t even care. She loved being in his arms and never wanted to leave them.

A low whicker sounded behind her and RavenStar raced toward them, practically barreling her over. Morgan knelt, burying her face in the soft fur of his neck. He whinnied again, his tail twirling at the speed of a cyclone.

“I had an inkling you were in the volcano, but that little shit led me here. He
knew
you were here.”

She kissed RavenStar’s nose. “You don’t hate him so much anymore?” she chided.

“I never hated him,” Ryan said with mock annoyance.

Morgan swatted at him playfully. “You were jealous of him.”

“Damn straight. Anything that comes between me and my woman—” Ryan’s neck and face grew beet red. “I mean, well...”

Morgan’s heart flip-flopped.
His woman!
She adored the sound of that. Tipping her head back, she gave him an encouraging grin.

Dread transfixed Ryan’s expression. Morgan held back a laugh. She straightened to her full height and laid her palms flat on his chest, her right hand covering the rune brand over his heart.

“Ryan. I belong to you. You belong to me. That’s why we’re on the island together. It was our duty.” Conviction accompanied her firm pat on his chest. “Our destiny.”

“Screw duty.” His eyes seethed sapphire darkness. “Fate had something to do with it, yes. We came here to find each other, for each other. Not just for duty. I understand that now.”

“For love, too?” Happiness burst inside Morgan. The most incredible mixture of love and passion swirled around her chest, a rush of emotions she never wanted to forego.

“For love.” His tongue traced a kiss across her lips. “I love you, Morgan, High Druid Sorceress, heart of the Druids.” She drank in the sweetness of his lips that caressed her mouth more than kissed it. “Heart of my heart,” he whispered against her mouth.

“I love you, too,” she whispered, blinking back tears of joy.

They kissed deeply, a kiss overflowing with infinite love. A forever kiss.

In the grassy glade outside the volcano’s lifeless boundary, they rested in each other’s arms, recharging their powers. Ryan explained to Morgan his plan to destroy WindWraith in the Druid circle. Later, she would mull over his need to leave the island and how best to approach the subject. No more withholding, no more mistrust. For now, she wanted to relax and handle one task at a time. Liberation and acceptance chased away her doubts, drifted her into welcome slumber.