Blood Sacrifice (The Astral Chronicles #1)

Chapter ThirteenLuna

Chapter Thirteen

Luna

There were two types of spellbinding, each forbidden from use by the elders who governed over magic and the creatures who utilised it. I had used spellbinding by parental consent to protect the young vampire Tasha from the hellspawn who were hunting her. The key to unlock that binding was her finding her mate Levi, a wolf strong enough to defend her and keep their family safe. Tasha had not been affected physically or mentally, merely her magic suppressed.

The other type of spellbinding was what had been used on the dire wolves. It controlled the will of the recipient, bending them to your command. A subtle form had been used on Salvator to ensure his compliance, but this other wolf could barely remember his name.

I typed on my phone, communicating with Maia.

Me: Spellbound wolf had been the person following us. Need a safe house.

A few moments later, my phone pinged.

Maia: Holy shit! Someone is taking their life in their hands. Checking for safe houses in the area.

Over the years, the ancient creatures in the Chimaera Foundation had bought properties around the globe to ensure we could get our people to safety no matter where we were in the world. They were listed in a database that only a few people had access to, and the details of passcodes and keys were retained secretly as well. Everyone who joined our guild agreed to the terms, and it had allowed us to protect all types of magical and night creatures from harm.

There were wolves and vampires who had joined along the way, each adding a layer of understanding and their own brand of mysticism that hid us from the watchful eyes of the elders who were little better than Balor in their quest for supremacy. The only difference was that they had positioned themselves as the magical authority a long time ago and decimated any rebellions or challenges to their hierarchy of power. Rarely anything went past the watching eyes of their seers. It was why our amulets contained specified runes to prevent them from watching us, and the senior members of our guild had tattoos on our bodies shielding us.

My phone pinged again, breaking me from my thoughts.

Maia: Sending coordinates to your private account. All details for entry retrieved and added to your profile.

Nothing ever came directly to us. In this modern age of technology, everything was hidden behind firewalls and passwords.

Me: Thank you. I have a bad feeling about this. Can you mobilise operatives to this region?

Mother priestess had told me to follow my instincts, and that was what I had done all these years. They had never once been wrong, and my survival was the result of being cautious and acting on my visions and instincts.

Maia: I’ve had people on standby since that couple was killed. I’ll send them to safe houses. Their details will be in your account.

I tapped my finger on the side of my phone. There were few people I trusted in this world, but one man was unique among his race, a relic of a bygone era when the templar knights guarded the magical creatures of this world.

Me: Could you contact Dominic and update him on the situation?

He hated the elders and everything they stood for, but more than that, Dominic was a vampire who possessed unique magic that meant he couldn’t be manipulated and controlled. He could neutralise spells and enchantments around him, and a few other gifts I had never gotten to the bottom of since he tended to be an enigma.

Maia: Wow. It must be bad if you’re contacting Dominic.

Me: Honestly, I don’t know what’s going on here, just that I need our strongest people here for the storm that’s brewing.

Salvator shot me a worried look from the driver’s seat as if he could sense my emotions. As much as I tried to deny it, our connection grew every single day. I was aware of him sitting beside me, every rise and fall of his chest. At night, I could feel his pulse throbbing beside me, calling me to him in a seductive whisper. He insisted I slept beside him in case of an attack, and although I had had the willpower to resist him when he was spellbound, that no longer existed and I craved him with every nerve in my body.

I clamped my thighs together and stared out the window as my mind wandered to the erotic dreams that awaited me every time I fell asleep. Every morning, I could still feel his touch on my skin, and if I pursed my lips together, I swear I could taste him from the kisses we shared in my dreams. Yet, Salvator lay there as if he had slept peacefully, blissfully unaware of me sleeping beside him in the bed.

“You okay?” Salvator asked, and I blinked several times to try and clear the image of his naked body from my head.

“Yep.” My voice emerged as a squeak, and my hands clasped together on my lap.

“You seem distracted,” he continued. “Are you still upset that I locked the wolf in the boot?”

He was sleeping since it would take his mind several days to clear properly. I didn’t care where he put the wolf while he slept off the effects of magic. Right now, I was trying to calm down my hormones after he had gone all alpha wolf at the side of the road, including his glowing eyes and canines on display. Those teeth deserved to be embedded in my shoulder, the way he had tempted me so often in the past.

“Luna?” The car swerved and I felt Salvator’s gaze boring into me.

“Hmmm?” I turned to face him, and saw the glowing amber that made my pulse leap in my veins.

“What the fuck is going on?” he demanded. “Because right now I can’t concentrate from whatever you are doing.”

“Me? I’m sitting here watching the scenery!” I exclaimed. In fairness, the only scenery I had been interested in had been the scenery of his body, every toned muscle and firm inch of flesh.

A pulse pounded between my legs, a need building low in my stomach. His deep, spicy male scent intoxicated me, surrounding me in a tempting aroma which whispered to my sensuality, and made me want to crawl across the car to touch him.

Salvator shot me another incredulous look, before returning his attention to the road. “Fuck my life,” he muttered. “I swear I’m going to have blue balls at the end of this journey.”

I pretended not to hear him. Women didn’t have balls, but right now it felt like my pussy lips were trying to eat my panties like Cookie Monster trying to eat his way toward a double chocolate chip treat.

“Maia has sent me the details of a safe house,” I said, staring out the window without taking anything in. “We could leave the wolf at your house for someone else to question, and move location.”

His fingers drummed on the steering wheel. “What about my men?” he asked.

“Maia has teams on their way here. We’ll pick them up one by one using a message from your phone. I don’t want to risk whoever is manipulating people to see you since you’re off their radar,” I replied.

Salvator’s jaw bunched, and I could feel his frustration since he was used to doing everything himself. Right now, he was having to sit back and let me take care of him. “They won’t be easy to bring in,” he finally said. “These are trained soldiers.”

I touched his thigh and his body stiffened. “These are trained soldiers who are spellbound,” I replied. “I’m bringing in a covert team who are used to neutralising threats. This is what we do—rescue magical beings from the threat and tyranny of others. Let us do our job.” I squeezed his leg and went to move my hand away, but he caught it, bringing it up to his lips to press a kiss on the top of my fingers.

I felt that kiss all the way to my toes and into the very centre of my soul. His eyes met mine and the world slowed down for several seconds and my breath caught. There was an undefined emotion in his eyes that made a creature of darkness stir deep in my stomach. Maybe it was because of the passage of time, but I never remembered Salvator having this effect on my breathing before, or possessing the ability to rob me of my words.

I dragged my gaze from his, confused and uncomfortable by the feelings cascading inside me.

We returned to his villa, and I watched Salvator drag the unconscious wolf into his home and put him in a room at the back of the property that had bars on the windows and locks on the outside of the door.

I packed my property into my bag, and accessed the information on our secure server. Then, I wandered outside and drew sigils on Salvator’s car to ensure no one followed us to the safe place we were going. The house would be cloaked by powerful magic to hide it from prying eyes and listening ears.

I jumped at the sudden noise behind me, realising too late that it was Salvator dropping his kit bag onto the ground. His eyes widened and he looked around him as if there was an enemy he was searching for.

“I thought you were supposed to be a lithe predator who can stalk about unnoticed,” I said, rolling my eyes.

His grin made butterflies beat low in my stomach. “I save that for the nighttime.” He shrugged one shoulder. “It’s much more dramatic when you jump out at the victim.”

“Asshole,” I muttered as I turned away, but my lips twitched into a small smile.

“What can I say? I’m technically a dog.” Salvator opened the boot and threw his bag in. He moved to the front door and lifted another bag, and when he set it into the boot beside the other one, I noticed the zip was open and it was filled with weapons.

“Are we going to war?” I queried.

Salvator glanced up for a moment. “People have been trying to kill us, so yes, I plan on some retribution.”

Normally, I shied away from violence, but there was something about the thought of Salvator showing his dominance in a fight that made a fire ignite inside me. To cover my reaction, I lifted my own bag, and he took it from me to place next to his.

I climbed into the front of the car, setting my handbag at my feet, and retrieving my phone with the coordinates for our next destination on it. Salvator slid into the driver’s seat, taking my phone to study the map.

“I know the area,” he said. “You can direct me when we get closer.”

I slumped down in my seat and settled myself in for the journey. My mind travelled over all the topics we had covered this past week, finally landing on what I really wanted to know.

“Do you have children? A few ex-wives in your closet?” I asked, staring at the mountain range in the distance.

The car swerved for a moment before Salvator managed to stabilise it. “What? Fuck, no!” I felt the weight of his glare on me. “What would make you think that? Do you have a houseful of kids and a highway filled with broken hearts?”

I spun to face him and met his furious gaze. “No!” How could I explain that no one had ever measured up to the memory of him? “Never!”

“Then why would you think that I could forget you?” I hadn’t mentioned him in my reply, but Salvator zeroed in on the issue. “Just because I thought you were dead doesn’t mean I decided to find someone else.”

He returned his attention to the road, his jaw so tight, I swear he was going to break a back molar.

“We were never mated,” I said in a low voice. “No one would have blamed you.”

He hit the steering wheel, and I jumped. “For fuck’s sake, Luna. We never fully mated because Balor would have killed you for allowing yourself to be polluted by a lycan. That does not mean that my wolf didn’t find his mate in a small village four hundred years ago.”

The air inside the car was static, like a thunderstorm brewing. I expected to see flashes of lightning emitting from the roof liner.

Time stretched between us, and I watched the tension build in his shoulders and biceps.

“I’m sorry,” I said, sucking in a deep breath. “I should have known you wouldn’t disrespect the mating bond.”

He growled in reply and refused to look at me. I felt ridiculous, but the man was a walking sexual fantasy. The silence thickened until I swear it began to absorb all the air in the car, and I felt lightheaded.

“Fine!” I flung my hands up in annoyance. “I said I’m sorry. There’s no need to give me the dark and moody treatment.”

He continued to stare straight ahead and ignore me.

“Have you seen yourself?” I demanded. “You are the type of man that has women watching him with hearts in their eyes and a fire burning in their panties everywhere you go. Even among the tall and beautiful lycans, you are a dark and dirty fantasy that walks into women’s dreams to become their dream-state lover.”

He flashed a sideward look at me but didn’t reply.

“We both know that you must have to beat off a legion of horny women every Ostara when their hormones run amok and their libido is on red alert.” I sighed dramatically. “Or at Beltane when the need to find a mate is at its peak, and every lycan with a pulse is on the rampage and searching for someone to breed with.”

He shot me one of his narrow-eyed glares which was designed to turn the recipient to stone. Instead, it made a pulse thrum between my legs, and lust to spike in my veins. I swear the man was emitting pheromones that were slowly eroding my sanity. Every time he stood too close, I had to suppress the urge to lick him because he made my mouth water.

“You’re hilarious,” Salvator snarked. “You make dire wolves sound no better than a pack of mongrel dogs running around with our dicks hanging out.”

My eyebrows shot up. “That’s a terrifying image,” I replied. “It’s been a long time since I attended a Beltane celebration with creatures other than witches there.”

His lips twitched, but he still refused to look at me. “Is it really so hard to believe that I didn’t become a manwhore in your absence? We were fighting a war, running for our lives. The last thing on my mind was shagging nameless women on solstices and worrying about raising children who could be slaughtered at any moment.”

I pursed my lips together, shame washing over me as my mind travelled back in time. “Those first two centuries were horrendous,” I finally said. “Sleeping in forests in the hope that no one would find me, trying to prevent human men raping me because I was alone, being so hungry that I could barely eat when I did find food.”

The air inside the car felt as if it thickened, the temperature lowering. Salvator looked at me for several seconds, his gaze dark and dangerous. I swear he had an inner navigator that allowed him to drive and complete another task at the same time.

I chewed the corner of my mouth, images from that time breaking through a spell I had suppressed them with. I was aware I had placed a block on my memories, but I didn’t know why. Those images demonstrated why I didn’t want to remember that period of my life.

Salvator’s gaze darkened, and I worried that he was going to shout at me about the conditions his wolves had had to live through. “I wish I could go back and tear their throats out,” he said, his voice deep and growly.

I didn’t know what to say because even in my organisation, there was no one who truly worried about my safety. We were a network that co-existed, but no one knew where I lived and if I was okay.

“We can’t change the past,” I finally replied, falling under the enchantment in his eyes, which lowered the defences I had built around myself. “If I could, I would have insisted you stay with me that day, and we run away from the war together.”

Salvator turned his attention back to the road. Every nerve ending in my body froze when he lifted my hand closest to him and brought it to his lips to kiss the inside of my wrist.

“I’ve spent four hundred years regretting that decision,” he said against my skin. “I used to lie awake wherever we could find to sleep, wishing I had turned back that day because every step away from you caused me physical pain.”

His admission left me breathless, the fluttering in my chest making me lightheaded. I barely had any resistance left against the tirade of emotions thundering through me. Salvator had been the other half of me from the moment I saw him after I arrived at the temple. He had been the one to keep me sane in those first terrifying months, his presence calming and centring me in the middle of that magical storm Balor had created.

I wiggled until I made myself comfortable, watching the scenery until we were closer to our destination, and Salvator needed directions. The house was cloaked so humans would walk past it without seeing it, strong protection wards engraved into the stone structure, and painted on the walls. The gardens had glass jars filled with herbs and crystals buried in them to repel certain night creatures and dark witches. The metal gates swung open when I muttered the unlocking spell, lifting the enchantment so Salvator and I could see what was hidden behind the high walls.

“I’m impressed,” he said, whistling lowly. “I would never even have known this was here.”

“That’s the point of these locations,” I replied. “We have them across the globe so that witches can find safety. Any of us who lived through some of the atrocities carried out against the magical community know the importance of these.”

He brought the car to a stop at the top of the drive, and I stretched my limbs when I climbed out into the sunshine, finally able to relax. The next witch to enter this place would need a different keyword in the unlocking spell, to safeguard the integrity of this location.

Inside the house was cool, the sunlight illuminating the white tiles on the floor. I left my bag in the hall, removing my shoes to allow me to ground myself after being on high alert for so long in this country.

I wandered through to the kitchen. There would be basic supplies held in magical stasis in a larder, and cool water to refresh us. Salvator’s footsteps echoed through the house, allowing me to follow his progress as he moved from room to room.

This house allowed me to relax all the spells I used when outside my home. I felt the pressure lift from my shoulders with every sip of purified water I drank while standing at the patio doors to look out over the garden.

I jolted when Salvator took the glass from my hands, setting it on the table. He spun me slowly to face him, his hand grasping my throat to tilt my head up until I met his dark eyes.

“Show me,” he demanded. “They hurt you, I saw it in your eyes. Show me.”

I blinked, panic rising inside me. “I—” I broke off, trying to move my gaze away from his. “I put a spell on certain memories, and I only know what they are when it wears off,” I admitted.

His head lowered until his forehead touched mine. “I felt your pain. The spell is eroding.”

My eyes fluttered closed, and I leaned my weight into his strength. “Please,” I whispered. “I can’t say the words…”

“Show me,” he demanded, his voice deep and gravelly. “Open your mind and let me see.”

My hands gripped the front of his top. I didn’t want to witness what I hadn’t been strong enough to keep in my memories.

“Give it to me, and then we’ll cloak them again,” Salvator said. “Let me take this burden from you.”

Cracks formed around the edges of my memories, the fabric of the magic that held them in the void faltering. My legs wobbled, my knees starting to give way. Salvator’s hands clamped on my hips, holding me steady, his breath combining with mine as we stood pressed together.

The memories started to flow through my mind. They started with me being held in a small cage, and then travelled through a dark period of my life when I was tortured repeatedly to try and gain access to my magic. The skin on my back was in tatters, and pain shot through my body as the physical layer of my aura remembered the agony. My body arched at the memory of me being whipped over and over again, my blood smeared on the non-magical people trying to steal my powers.

I screamed when they placed hot coals on me to represent fire, ice to signify water, burying me in the ground in search of my earth powers. The very elements I controlled were turned against me, the runes on my skin peeled off to place them on the bodies of those seeking to use magic.

Flickers of their faces travelled through my mind, engrained in my dormant memories.

The binding of any part of magic was a crime in my world, because the person we are today is an accumulation of our experiences and emotions. I had been violated in every way they could contemplate, my body broken beyond repair when they left me for dead.

I was found with little blood left in my body and even less will to live. Somewhere in the middle of that darkness, I had found a friend who taught me that where there was life, there was the ability for redemption. Dominic was a vampire unlike any I had met in my long life. It was because of his kindness that I had agreed to help Tasha. He had lived through his own version of hell, and fought his demons every day.

He had let me live in his coven until I was able to walk again after my bones mended. He found a witch to help me suppress the memories when they rendered me unable to move forward, and he hunted each of the perpetrators down until he had claimed vengeance in my name. I trusted Dominic, and that was the reason why I had asked Maia to contact him. If he had wanted me dead, he could have stood and watched me breathe my last without having to lift a finger.

“I fucking hate every one of them,” Salvator said against my ear. “I hate that you faced that without me there to protect you. I hate the magical war that killed so many of our kind across the Americas.”

I felt his emotions crash over me, and the remnants of the spell fractured and crumbled until I was left emotionally bare and bleeding. My chest heaved as I tried to suck in air, panic flaring deep inside me.

“I can’t—” I whispered as I remembered all the details, the scars appeared on my skin that had been masked and hidden from view.

My knees gave way, and Salvator guided me to a kneeling position on the floor. Slowly, his fingers traced over my body, creating a path from my arms, over my shoulders, and to the worst damage on my back.

Salvator moved behind me, his sudden intake of breath shouting without words that the scars were still as deep and ugly as they were when an enchantment was created to hide them. The tip of his index finger mapped the lines that marred my skin. Tears trickled down my cheeks because even though I hadn’t remembered the torture, this had been the reason I had locked myself away from the world and lived alone for centuries.

“These are the scars of a survivor,” Salvator said in a low voice, his lips touching where my spine and neck met. “They show that even when evil and bigotry tried to destroy you that you had the strength to reclaim your power.”

His hands grasped my upper arms, physically lifting me to my feet, and drawing me back against his chest.

“You can utter as many denials as you want, but you are my mate,” Salvator continued in a low, husky voice. “My wolf recognised you when you arrived to work at the temple, and he has never once, in all the years you were absent from our life, even looked at another. You are my mate, Luna. The only way we can face the threat surrounding us and survive is to accept that fact, and complete the bond.”

The smouldering ember in my chest that burned for Salvator ignited into a flame. Life was made from a series of moments, and every positive memory had involved this man. He made me feel safe in a world filled with predators, and for the first time in longer than I could remember, I felt real emotions again, colour returning to my existence.

My eyes met Salvator’s, and his gaze bored into me as his eyes glowed amber. He was the most dangerous predator I knew, but the biggest risk to my safety was the hold he had on my heart.