Page 20 of Magic Hunted
Savvas threaded his fingers through mine and squeezed my hand. “I always dreamed it would be the perfect day when we finally met our mate. The bond would trigger our Change. Our panthers would play in the jungle and then we would lose ourselves for a week while we discovered each other in the cabin we built for you.” He sighed and a sad smile played on his mouth. “I wished we’d met under different circumstances.”
I wished everything about my life was a different circumstance; that my parents hadn’t died, that Titan hadn’t trained me as his spy, that I was innocent and naïve and able to give them what they deserved. If I was a normal woman, I’d have chosen them without a second thought. I would have given myself to the bond with joy and happiness. I wished I was her. That I didn’t know how bad life could get. How terrible and traumatic and dark it could be.
But I wasn’t that woman. I hadn’t been her for longer than I’d been the other one. I was a woman who knew better and I was splayed open on Savvas’ lap as though I had a right to accept what he offered. All I would have to do was rock my hips and his cock would slide through my wet heat. I could almost feel the drag of it in my sensitive flesh. I wouldn’t be able to stop. One drag wouldn’t be enough. I’d want his entire rigid length inside me and then I’d want to complete the bond. I jumped off his lap before I could give into that temptation and grind myself against him.
I gulped in a deep breath and scrambled to the water’s edge. Heat inflamed my cheeks. Savvas was hurt because he didn’t know what had become of Dias and Ashir and I was two seconds away from impaling myself on him. My face reflected on the black surface, my peaked nipples having nothing to do with the frigid air.
A tingle erupted in my slave studs that grew into an uncomfortable burn. “Gods, no.”
“Haera, what is it?” Savvas said.
I gasped as fire lanced through my bones. “Titan’s calling me back. The studs…the pain.”
Savvas’ face tensed in horror. “How bad will it get?”
Soon, I wouldn’t be able to speak. Anything I wanted to say, I had to say now. “Savvas, you have to leave me. You can’t do anything for me. Go. Find Ashir and Dias. Before it’s too late.”
“I will never leave you, my heart,” Savvas said.
“Stop being delusional. We’re deep underground. Lost without a way out and the elves and their bugs could find us at any moment. This pain will only get worse.” Titan wouldn’t stop until I drew my last breath and then I’d reanimate and die again. And again. I inhaled a shuddering breath. “Soon I won’t be able to walk or talk. Leave me. Find them. Get out of here.”
Savvas’ eyes gleamed. He licked his lips and my gaze tracked the movement. “The pain will kill you, won’t it?”
I blinked back a sudden wave of tears. I’d never felt sorry for myself and I wouldn’t start now. Then again, no one had ever cared enough about me to feel sorry for myself about. “I don’t want you to see that.”
He already cared for me too much. I couldn’t put him through the agony of watching me die over and over again.
“You have magic. Don’t tell me you don’t. I’ve felt it twice. It’s not Titan’s magic. It’s yours.” His fingers curled on my shoulder, firm and insistent. “Use it to stop what Titan is doing to you.”
Boulders built in my gut. That knowledge alone was enough to have him killed. And the magic inside me wasn’t just any magic. It was the grimoire that had been hidden from The Six for centuries and I didn’t know how to use it. Hells, I hadn’t even felt it before they’d touched me.
“I have no magic.” Lie. Pain shot through me from my denial.
His mouth pressed into a firm line and his fingers tensed in my arms. “I won’t tell Titan. I won’t tell anyone. Your secret is safe with us. I haven’t felt magic like that before. It’s…purer than Titan’s magic. Stronger. More powerful. If you don’t trust us…trustmeenough to use it to save yourself.”
I wrenched myself from his grip.Thiswas why I never became close to anyone. Secrets were dangerous. They cost lives and this was the deadliest.
“I…I can’t.” Truth. I didn’t know how to. I cried out as the studs became stabbing red-hot pokers. My vision hazed and my chest worked like bellows.
I gripped Savvas’ forearm when he knelt next to me. His lips moved and I realized he was calling my name. I drew in a deep breath, steeling myself to speak. “Titan will eventually use the studs to find me if I don’t get back to him. You have to go. Find Ashir and Dias and disappear. He won’t let you live if he finds you.”
“If I took you back to him the pain would stop, wouldn’t it?” Savvas said.
I would not have him sacrifice himself like Ashir and Dias. This had already gone too far.
I shook my head, my hair whipping into my eyes as I sobbed. “Don’t be stupid, Savvas.”
Don’t do it for me. Don’t endanger yourself for me. But then a wave of agony burned my bones. I cried out, gasping for air as black edged my vision. The pain sank deep into me. Deeper than it had gone before and into the space where the grimoire was tethered to me. Golden streams of magic erupted, attacking Titan’s magic. My back arched, my body going rigid as pain lashed within me.
I think I screamed, but I wasn’t sure. Rawness tore my throat. Blood roared in my ears. My eyes flew wide open to see bubbling golden light arching throughout the cavern as it escaped from my body. It disappeared into the rock, leaving us in the semi-gloom of the luminescent moss.
Savvas cried a wordless sound, distant as the ground shook. Rock exploded above us. The head of a bug broke through solid rock and clambered to the rocky ledge we sat on, the fierce elf atop it. He withdrew his sword, his gaze trained on me, and leapt off his bug as several more poured through after him. The elves descended on us, ripping Savvas away from me. I curled on the rock on my side, my vision growing dim, wracked with pain and unable to defend myself before they reached for me next.
Chapter Eleven
Savvas lashed out with his foot, catching the elf holding him. The elf crumpled to the ground and Savvas wrenched free, stumbling toward me, face tight and stricken as another elf lunged for him. I slammed my heel into the thigh of the lead elf stalking me. His leg went from under him and he buckled to the ground. I rolled away from his reaching hands as Savvas grabbed my biceps and hauled me against him.
The fierce warrior elf’s eyes glowed. Winged brows lowered as he pulled his lips back to reveal serrated teeth. “Give back what you’ve stolen, thief.”
