Seduced by the Beast Read online

  Swan ran toward them as they locked in a deadly embrace, pushing back past safety toward the edge of the mountain as each man grappled for domination. Raphael stumbled on the rock littering the ground, his greater weight pulling them both toward the edge.

  Swan screamed as they went over, her cries mingling with Morvere’s own.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Swan ran to the edge, but could see nothing with the distance. He couldn’t be dead. She scarcely noticed her missing finger had returned, could think of nothing but Raphael.

  A hand grasped her shoulder. She startled, half expecting Morvere, and cried when she saw Syrian standing beside her.

  “We must go to him,” he gritted out, clutching his chest. He coughed, bending nearly double.

  She turned to rush down the mountain.

  Vachel was gone, she’d not seen him recover, so couldn’t know what had happened to him. Had he been dragged over the side as well? Swan raced down the mountain, Syrian trailing behind, moving as quickly as he could, each minute agony. Tears streamed down her face. She wiped them away, only to be blinded by more.

  An eternity passed until they reached the bottom. Syrian limped behind her, too injured to keep up as she scrambled over the steep hill, her fingertips bloodying as she struggled not to fall, to reach him as quickly as she could.

  She cried in relief when she found him, crumpled on his side, Vachel beside him. Morvere lay a short distance away, broken over a crop of rock, his head lolling at an obscene angle. She turned away from him, unable to bear the sight.

  Vachel looked up at her as she dropped beside Raphael. “He’s broken inside,” he whispered.

  “Don’t say that!” she screamed, kneeling beside him, touching his skin. He was cold, chill as the grave. Her heart ceased beating as she stared down at his still form.

  Syrian came up behind her, quiet.

  She turned to him, clutching the hem of his robe. “You have to do something, Syrian. He’ll die if you don’t.”

  Syrian gave her a pitying look, his eyes saddened. “There is nothing I can do for him. My power is completely drained.”

  “No!”

  “I can’t wake him. There is nothing we can do,” Vachel said softly, rising.

  “Leave me be,” she cried, gathering him in her arms. They left her quietly, moving away for her privacy.

  Swan rocked him, her tears gliding down her chin, falling on his face. “Raphael, open your eyes, please. Please! You have to wake up.” She shook his shoulders. His head fell back limply. “Raphael! You need to change so you can heal. Do it for me, Raphael.”

  He lay limp, his skin growing steadily cooler. Swan collapsed against his chest, crying brokenly against him. “Don’t leave me, my love. I’m healed,” she whispered, kissing his cheeks. “Morvere is dead. You kept your promise,” she said, throat closing on her words.

  She curled beside him, draping her arms and legs around his still form, watching his face for some sign of life. His beautiful bronze skin paled as death neared. She couldn’t warm him. He was so cold. She smoothed his hair back from his face, barely breathing, her heart breaking.

  “You said once, you would have a kiss ... ere you ... die.” More tears flooded her eyes as she leaned close and pressed her lips to his mouth, willing what spirit or force gave her life to go into him. She cupped his jaw, rubbing her thumb softly against his cheek, heating his body with her own.

  She pressed her palm against his heart, sawing her mouth across his lips, suffusing him with warmth. His lips twitched and she pulled back, startled, watching him, seeing no movement. She descended again, nibbling his lips, hoping against hope her sanity had not broken.

  A faint beat thumped against her hand. She stroked the hard plane of his chest, grazing his nipple, feeling for the beat. It grew strong, heat spreading out from her palm.

  His lips moved again, responding to her. She stroked her tongue against them, soothing the parched surface. He groaned softly, his lips parting. She pulled back and his eyelids fluttered open.

  A buzz tickled her ears and then his voice filled her head. Don’t stop. The kharez....

  His eyes closed and he went still once more. Swan frantically touched his face, kissed him again, pushed her tongue into his mouth--anything that would provoke a response. She stroked her palms over his chest, and each time he grew warmer, the heat spreading. It dawned upon her suddenly. Her touch was healing him.

  She moved further, touching the ripples of his stomach, lower, feeling his skin coming to life at her as she caressed him. She pushed past his kurt, touched his hips, the soft thatch of hair at the base of his sex, further, to that central part of him.

  Her fingers tingled with energy as she gently laid them against his manhood. He hardened instantly, and she looked up at his face, saw that he watched her, his eyes lucid.

  Slowly, he lifted an arm, cupping a hand behind her neck to bring her down for his kiss. He plunged his tongue into her mouth, growing steadily stronger with each liquid glide.

  Swan cried again, gripping his shaft, feeling life pulse through him. He groaned into her mouth, his fingers tangling through her hair as she continued to caress him.

  Breaking away, he kissed her cheeks, moved brokenly along her jaw. He pulled back, held her gaze steadily. “You’ve healed me, Swan. There is no need to go on. You can release me now.”

  She did so, reluctant to break contact. She drew her arm up to hug him tightly, gratified to feel the strong beat of his heart pounding against her cheek. “I thought we’d lost you.”

  “You brought me back from the brink.”

  “And you saved me, Raphael.” His chest was wet from her tears, she laughed softly, embarrassed at her emotions, wiping them away as she sat up.

  Swan could hardly believe he lived. She couldn’t touch him enough, couldn’t bear to leave his embrace.

  Reluctantly, they both stood, holding each other for support. Vachel and Syrian walked up.

  Shock etched across Vachel’s face. “She has powers I’ve never before seen. I am glad to have you back, brother.” He leaned in to embrace him.

  “Let there be no bad blood between us ever more,” Raphael said, returning his brother’s embrace.

  Syrian clasped his shoulder. “The kharez is powerful indeed.” He looked past him to Morvere’s broken body. “What will we do with him?”

  Raphael glared at the body, moving stiffly, still healing. “Leave it, as warning for others. Such as he deserves no burial from us.”

  Syrian nodded. “You go to Avonleigh now?”

  “Yes,” Raphael said, his jaw clenched.

  “I will return to Ravenel. Vachel, will you give your aid?”

  “I will. And I may seek nourishment from these strange lands.” He looked into the distance, clutching his side.

  “You’ll be killed if they discover your origins,” Raphael warned.

  “Only if I’m caught. And I do not plan to be so obvious. Farewell, brother, until next we meet.”

  He and Syrian limped away, back down the steep foothill. Swan watched them until they disappeared in the darkness.

  It suddenly occurred to her that they had succeeded. She stretched her hand, moving her fingers, amazed to see it whole once more. The spell had lifted with Morvere’s death. She was free! Her blood soared at the knowledge.

  Swan hugged Raphael again, reveling in the feel of his hard, warm body. “Your promise is kept, Raphael,” she said, her voice muffled against his chest.

  He was silent a long moment. “It is not yet complete. I said I would return you home, and I will. Your sister and your people need you.”

  Her chin wobbled, but she fought the urge the cry again. “Yes, they do.” He’d not heard her words when she thought him dead. It was best for them both that she not repeat them. A human could not live in his world. She could never forget that.

  * * * *

  They traveled until they passed the village--the danger in exposure for Raphael too great if t
hey stayed near. Beastmen were killed for trespass, and she couldn’t bear to take the risk only for the comfort of an inn.

  Her body weary beyond belief, they stopped to make camp at the border of a shallow forest. Soft, thick moss coated the ground near a small, gurgling mountain stream. They drank their fill and collapsed into the moss bed, falling asleep in each other’s arms.

  The night passed in haunting dreams.

  Swan awoke to the glare of light beating upon her eyelids. She cracked them open, not quite believing she lay with the sun kissing her skin.

  The horror was truly over, and with it came the end of her existence with Raphael. She couldn’t dwell on that sadness. She craned her head to look at him, a thrill running through her body to wake with his arms wrapped tight around her.

  He grinned at her, lazily moving a hand up her waist to the underside of her breast. She pushed it down, coy, batting her lashes.

  He growled playfully and rolled on top of her, kissing her with a thoroughness that curled her toes.

  There was no need for words. Each knew these moments alone were precious. Desire unfurled as he turned serious, stripping away the barrier of their garments until they lay in the moss with nothing between them.

  Raphael wedged a knee between her legs, parting her thighs. He rubbed the hard, thick ridge of muscle against her, increasing the moisture soaking her cleft.

  Swan moaned as he pinched her nipples, massaging her breasts, enjoying the contrast of their bodies, his dark head as he sucked at her breasts and laved his tongue across her chest.

  They moved rapidly after that, hands groping, need furious and urgent. He moved between her thighs and thrust into her barely slick channel, the exquisite friction causing her to gasp.

  His short strokes were powerful, making her sink into the soft moss. She arched her back, thrusting her hips up to meet his drive, making him come home hard and rough. He moved in and out, kissing her deeply, his hands braced on either side of her head to support his weight off her.

  Swan rolled her stomach, grinding her cunt against him to feel him on her clit.

  He broke away from her mouth, dropping his face to her neck as he gained tempo. She loved feeling his face there, the warmth of his breath as he breathed heavily into the crease of her neck and shoulder. Goosebumps shivered across her skin, making her shudder.

  Swan curled her legs around his hips and under his buttocks to feel the power of his thrust. Her hands roamed over his back, reveling in the play of muscle with each potent stroke.

  The climax took her quickly, suddenly. She cried out at its intensity, and bit his shoulder, her nails digging into his back.

  “You are mine,” she gasped, catching the back of his head to kiss him once more. The wildness of his tongue drove her climax to greater heights, rolling through her with bone-melting heat.

  His own release followed soon after and he collapsed, rolling onto his side and holding her close. He crushed her to him, laying still until the furious beat of their blood and breath returned to normal.

  He pulled away from her, kissing her closed lids tenderly, then her mouth. “We dare not linger, Swan.”

  She nodded and rose to bathe in the water near their camp, reluctant to wash his wild scent from her skin but needing its coolness to steady her calm.

  Once dressed, they left.

  He kept their pace consistent, stopping only to hunt and break at night. In the dark, they came together again and again, until they fell into exhausted sleep, knowing these passing nights needed to last a lifetime. She couldn’t speak of parting, couldn’t think about it, and so said nothing.

  It wasn’t until a fortnight had passed that the roads became familiar, and the fear she’d held at bay for so long returned full force. They had reached the border of her lands.

  * * * *

  Day drew to a close when they reached the first village, the sun dwindling in the sky, a deep burnt orange that turned to clouds to flame.

  Children ran through the streets, laughing, kicking dirt at one another as they raced home to their mother’s call. An old man shook the trash from his pipe on the ground, standing near a squat stone hut, giving them a suspicious look as they walked up the wide dirt road bisecting the center of the village.

  He paused, studying them, and slowly his face crumpled into a wrinkled smile. He cried out and ran to them, dropping to the ground before her. “My lady!” He kissed the hem of her mail skirt. “My lady, you’ve returned. They spread the word you had been taken from us.”

  Swan looked down at him, flushing as more men and women came to their doors to see the commotion. As they saw her, they rushed into the street, crying and laughing. Nila must have been searching for her, she realized. Dimly, she heard the clop of horse’s hooves racing away from the village, but she was too overwhelmed by the people to think anything of it.

  Raphael watched Swan, saying nothing as the families slowly thinned out and went back to their homes so she could leave. They walked on, leaving the town as the sun settled.

  He couldn’t take her to Barakus--there was too much danger, too much risk she’d be killed.

  He’d come to Avonleigh to see if there could be another choice. If there was some chance.... The lands prospered under her rule, if the health of her citizens could be evidence. They needed and loved her, recognized her face. If he’d had doubts of her place before, he held them no longer.

  “Why do you not ask to stay with the townspeople?” he asked, watching her reaction.

  They’d stopped past the outskirts, far enough away the lights from the town were dim. “I couldn’t chance they would know you, Raphael.”

  “You should stay. In the morning they can take you to Avonleigh.”

  “No, I--” She stopped, listening as did he. “Horses,” she breathed, looking into the distance. The rider she’d heard leave, he must have gone for help or to give notice.

  He tensed, ears perked. “Armor shod. A patrol.”

  “Nila. She must be looking for me.” Her heart thrilled at the prospect. She would soon see her sister.

  After but a few minutes, horses crested the horizon, thundering down the wide dirt road. Swan awaited, fearless, recognizing her guard immediately. They pulled to a halt, a circle around them. Seeing Raphael, they drew their swords.

  “Wait!” she yelled, pushing in front of him. Raphael glared at the horsemen, his hands clenched into fists. “He is no threat. Lay down your arms.”

  They slid their swords back in their sheaths, still giving Raphael a wary eye.

  A man dropped to the ground, their leader. He removed his helm and bowed before her. “My lady, we’d near given up hope of finding you,” Captain Sade said. “Blessed are we. The gods have returned you home.”

  “How fares my sister?” she asked, worry etched across her face.

  “Well. She would hear nothing but news of our progress.”

  “I wish to see her at once. We can wait no longer.”

  Captain Sade nodded. “We’ll take no rest until you are safely ensconced.”

  The men broke the circle, preparing to leave. He pulled Swan up onto his own horse. “The men will double up for you and your compan--Oskar, where is Lady Swan’s companion?”

  “He was here but a moment ago, Sir! I swear I only just took mine eyes off him.”

  Swan glanced behind her, felt her blood freeze. Raphael was gone. She’d heard no sound of his leaving. “Raphael?” She walked back down the road, looking for sign of his passing and saw none. “Raphael!” He couldn’t have left her. He’d promised to take her home. “Search the woods, now, Captain Sade.”

  “Yes, my lady.”

  They beat the edges of the woods, but could make no headway in the brush, weighted in their armor. She continued calling for him until she was hoarse. The men came back to her, subdued with failure.

  “My lady, we can find no trace,” Captain Sade whispered, touching her arm when she would not move from the road.

  “He
can’t have gone,” she said, tears falling as she collapsed onto her knees. She pushed Sade away, concentrating on calling him with her mind, reaching out to him. There was no response. She had not the power of mindspeak--he couldn’t hear her.

  The words she’d held back from uttering burned her throat, tears blinding her. “Raphael,” she whispered brokenly into the dark, “I ... love you....”

  She received no answer, and in her imagination, she thought distantly, a wolf cried.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Swan said nothing as Captain Sade helped her onto the horse. She remained silent until Avonleigh castle came into view. Word had been sent ahead that she’d been found.

  Bonfires lit the streets with the brilliance of daylight. The heavy gates were thrown open, allowing them inside.

  People cheered the triumphant return of the patrol guard. A groomsman helped her down, and an excited roar went up from the crowd. They parted suddenly, and Nila ran through their midst, grabbing Swan in a fierce hug.

  “I thought I’d lost you forever, sister,” she cried on Swan’s shoulder, burying her face in her hair.

  “And I you,” she breathed, smoothing her sister’s dark hair back. This was where she belonged. Raphael had been nothing but a dream--she must remember that.

  Her throat ached with unshed tears. She still couldn’t quite grasp that he was gone, never to return.

  Nila released her and they walked through the courtyard inside, Swan waving to the crowd as she passed.

  “Prepare a bath in Lady Swan’s room. And a plate,” Nila said to a servant, guiding Swan with an arm to her solar.

  Nila couldn’t stop touching her, held her hand as they climbed the long stairs and finally settled inside the comfortable room. They sat on cushioned chairs, pulled close to the fire. “You must tell me what happened, Swan. I don’t think I can bear the suspense much longer.”