Chapter 24
Twenty-Four
MANU
ELLNESARI, PRESENT DAY
I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I know, I’m jolted awake from the impact of falling from the tree. I yelp as white-hot pain makes me see stars. In the distance, I hear paws hitting the ground. The beast that was chasing me isn’t gone. Fucking hell.
The mist is thinner, and it allows me to see the looming shape of the monster that’s going to eat me if I don’t move. I jump to my feet and attempt to climb the tree again, but the branch I reach isn’t thick enough to hold my weight. It snaps, and I fall again.
The beast’s growl is much louder now. I pivot, instinctively knowing I’ve run out of time to flee. This will be a fight to the death—most likely mine. Without a weapon, I have only my claws and fangs against hundreds of pounds of pure muscle and rows of sharp teeth.
I grab the branch that snapped off the tree and get into a defensive stance. But the monster pounces before it’s within reach of my makeshift weapon.
“Shit!” I bend my knees, ready to jump out of the way. My only chance is to climb on top of the beast and tear its head off.
A gray blur collides with the monster midair, knocking it off course.
My heart recognizes him before my eyes can fully see him.
Karl . Karl is here. He came for me! The snarling that follows is vicious.
Karl and the monster are engaged in a feral battle, and I can’t do anything besides watch my mate fight against a monster twice his size.
But soon it becomes clear that it isn’t the size of the dog in a fight, it’s the fight in the dog that matters—or in this case, the wolf.
Karl might be smaller, but when he’s berserk, he’s lethal.
He jumps on the monster’s back and tears through muscle and fur with a savagery that makes my blood sing.
The monster howls as he bucks, trying to dislodge Karl, who clings on.
He won’t be able to do that for much longer.
I already see his grip is slipping. I have to help him.
I still have the broken branch in my hand, and one of the ends is pointy enough.
With a battle cry, I run toward the fight and leap when I’m close.
I bring my arm down, and the branch pierces the beast in its side, drawing an enraged roar from deep in its throat.
It swats me with one massive paw and sends me flying backward.
My forearm burns where the monster slashed me.
At this rate, I’ll be in tatters before the day is over.
With a loud thud, the beast finally tumbles to the side, but I don’t see Karl anymore. A lump lodges in my throat. “Karl…,” I whimper.
Then he emerges from behind the fallen monster, his muzzle covered in blood.
I sit up, cradling my arm, and he shifts back into the beautiful male I fell in love with centuries ago.
Relief washes over me, and then comes the yearning, hitting me like a bulldozer.
The feeling swirling in my chest hasn’t lessened.
If anything, it has become stronger. My heart swells with emotion, and I get choked up.
I stand up and run straight into his arms, hiding my tear-streaked face against his warm chest. “You came for me.”
He hugs me back, careful not to crush any of my wounds, and replies, “You called.”
With a shudder, I lean back and look into his piercing green eyes. The truth I see in the depths of his gaze robs me of air. He still loves me after all this time, after everything I’ve done to make him hate me.
He touches my face tenderly, and something inside me breaks.
I surrender to the bond, to the love I had to hide from the world.
I don’t know who moves first, but he’s suddenly there, kissing me with the relentless passion only he can summon.
I throw my arms around his neck, rising on my tiptoes to get even closer to him.
He still tastes like fire and snow, but there’s a new wildness to him that I can’t help but want more of.
I try to surrender to the heady feeling, but something is nagging at me, a memory that’s trying to come to the forefront of my mind. It feels important— vital .
When I finally remember, my heart lurches painfully.
Manu, what are you doing? The curse!
I push Karl back. “No! What have I done?”
He looks so confused and hurt that it kills me. “You kissed me like you remembered who I was. Who we were .”
I stare at him, waiting for him to drop dead. Each passing second is agonizing. I can’t speak, I can’t breathe, and the tightness in my stomach makes me sick. When nothing happens, I begin to fear my mind is playing tricks on me. Maybe I imagined kissing him.
“I’ve never forgotten who you are or what you mean to me. But you… you’re fine. How is that possible?”
“I’m fine ?” he snarls. “How dare you say I’m fine?”
I shake my head. “You don’t understand. You ought to be dead. She told me you would die if I…” I cover my mouth with my hands. Did that bitch lie?
“What are you talking about?”
Hugging my middle, I drop to my knees as the realization hits me. Queen Maewe lied. It’s the only explanation. I put Karl and myself through hell, denied the bond… for nothing. “She lied. How could I be such a fool?”
I sob, angry tears carving hot trails down my cheeks, and each ragged breath catching in my throat like broken glass. I don’t have the courage to look into the eyes of the male I destroyed and confess I made us suffer because I let a cunning Nightingale bitch trick me.
Karl drops into a crouch in front of me. “Talk to me, Manu. Who lied?”
I meet his stare. His anger is gone, but not his frustration. “Queen Maewe. On the evening she cursed me, she didn’t only alter my appearance. She took you away from me. She told me that I’d kill the male I loved with a kiss, and if anyone told you about the curse, you’d die just the same.”
He clenches his jaw so hard that I hear his teeth grinding together. The silence stretches for miles, until finally, he swallows hard. “So… your solution was to sleep with Ronan?”
I wince, then glance down as the shame consumes me. “I didn’t sleep with him. I asked Daveena to cast a spell and give you false memories of that. Ronan doesn’t know about it. No one does.”
“What about all the other lovers you had after that? The ones I don’t even know about. Were they false memories too?”
I shake my head, and a fat tear drops to my lap.
“The need to consummate the bond was driving me insane to the point that I considered ending my life. But that would mean killing you as well, and I couldn’t do it.
I procured another spell—a potion to be exact.
” I look up. “Every male I’ve had since we broke up had your face.
Whenever I slept with anyone, the potion made me believe I was with you. ”
Karl’s eyes become brighter with unshed tears, and his Adam’s apple bobs up and down. “I never touched another female after you. The very idea made me sick to my stomach. It was only thanks to Solomon and his concoctions that I didn’t seek death when the pain became unbearable.”
His confession makes me feel even guiltier, and angry. Why couldn’t Solomon have done the same for me?
“I would have done that too, if that had been available to me. Even tricking my brain into believing I was with you, the guilt that came after was crippling. I hated myself.” Tears roll down my cheeks, and this time, I don’t wipe them off.
Karl stands up and turns away, pressing a fisted hand against his mouth. His body is shaking now, and thanks to our connection, which is as strong as it was before all the tampering, I know the turmoil that lies in his heart.
“You’re not a wolf shifter. Feeding and sex go hand in hand for vampires.
I think that’s why Solomon’s potions wouldn’t work for you.
” He looks at me. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but he came to the New World with Cheryl and me as a personal request from King Raphael, with the sole purpose of helping us adjust to our new reality. ”
My jaw drops. “I had no idea my uncle did that.”
Karl nods. “When he asked me to resume my duties as your familiar, I couldn’t say no.”
He didn’t enroll at Bloodstone Institute for me, then. He did so out of duty to my uncle. The knowledge feels like a knife twisting into my heart.
What did you expect, Manu? You destroyed Karl.
I finally wipe my wet cheeks. “I know it’s probably too late for us, but… my feelings for you have not changed. If anything, they’re stronger than ever. I will always love you, Karl.”
I get up, needing to move away from him and his aloofness. Besides, we have to get out of here, and I have a feeling we’ll only find the way out after we locate the Magna Vis King Ruel so desperately desires. The mist is very thin now, allowing me to see the plains of a bare landscape.
“Your actions weren’t for nothing, Manu,” Karl says suddenly. “Queen Maewe didn’t lie about the curse.”
I whirl around and face him again. “You’re still alive. Clearly, she did.”
He shakes his head. “No. Nightingales don’t lie. I don’t know if it’s not in their nature or if they simply can’t.”
“Then how do you explain the fact that you’re standing there and not dead?”
He glances around, furrowing his brow as if in deep thought. “I think it’s this place. Selor said it was akin to purgatory, and that no kingdom in Ellnesari had a claim to the Valley of Lost Souls. The magic here must cancel out Queen Maewe’s curse.”
I let out a shaky breath while the tightening in my chest returns. Closing my eyes, I turn away from Karl, not wanting him to see me cry again. “We’re back to square one, then. Nothing has changed.”
His steps crunch over loose gravel as he shortens the distance between us.
When he stops behind me, I can feel the heat radiating from his body.
He places his hands on my upper arms and leans down, bringing his lips close to my ear.
“You’re wrong. Everything has changed, Manu.
I know now why you sent me away. I can help you break this damn curse. ”
“Why would you want to do that?” I ask through the lump in my throat, not daring to hope.
He kisses the back of my head and whispers, “Because it’s not too late for us. As long as I’m breathing, it will never be too late.”
I let out a whimper, and this time, the tears rolling down my cheeks are of pure joy.
Karl spins me around and frames my face with his hands.
“My love for you has no bounds. It’s bigger than the moon, the stars, and all the galaxies.
You’re my universe, Manu. Life without you has no meaning.
” He kisses my cheek. “No color.” Then the corner of my mouth.
“No joy.” He claims my mouth, kissing me deep and slow, taking his time, as if he wants to savor me.
But I’ve been deprived of him for far too long, and I can’t accept this pace.
I need more—so much more. Using my good arm, I grab Karl’s shirt and pull the fabric upward.
He groans against my lips, then finishes what I started, yanking his shirt off.
I almost weep at the sight of his wide chest, of his taut muscles covered in the freckles I adore.
Unable to resist, I run my tongue over his pec, grazing my fangs around his nipple. He gasps, then grabs a lock of my hair, twisting the strand around his fist. “Manu… fuck.”
I lower into a crouch while running my tongue down his abs until I reach the edge of his jeans. Too eager to get rid of the barrier, I pull the fabric too hard, and the button pops off. Karl doesn’t even notice, especially when I free his cock and suck his length into my mouth.
“Manu…,” he rasps, then begins to move his hips, pistoning in and out. “Oh God, how I’ve missed your mouth on me, Princess.”
I keep my fingers wrapped around his base and play with him, alternating sucking and licking his velvety skin.
He grows larger and harder in my mouth, and his pace increases.
His release is close; I feel it on my tongue, sense it below my skin.
I want to take him there more than anything in the world, but he pulls out suddenly.
“No. I want to surrender to the bond while I’m inside you, beautiful.” He pulls me up gently, then lowers my jeans to my ankles, mindful of my many scratches. I barely feel my injuries anymore, though.
His fingers dig into my ass as he lifts me off the ground—not that I wasn’t already planning on climbing him.
I have no idea where we’re going, but I open my legs nonetheless, and using my hand, I guide his cock to my soaking wet pussy.
His mouth is back on mine the moment he enters me with a hard push, making me moan against his lips.
I missed the feel of his cock filling me, stretching me, making me whole.
Because of my injuries, the only way we can be together is like this, standing in the middle of the wasteland.
But Karl has no issues fucking me in this manner.
He’s doing most of the work with his arms, moving my hips back and forth.
It doesn’t take long for tingles of pure ecstasy to radiate through my body.
I cry out when the most intense and fastest orgasm I’ve had in centuries shatters me, turning me into stardust.
Karl grunts, then bites my lower lip, drawing blood. The pain sends another wave of pleasure through me and ignites a different type of hunger.
As if reading my thoughts, he whispers against my lips, his voice tight, “Drink from me, Princess. Please.”
He kisses my neck and, by doing so, exposes his.
I’m salivating before I lick a throbbing vein.
Karl shudders and fucks me faster than before.
I sink my fangs into his skin and come once again the moment his sweet nectar fills my mouth.
Karl groans louder as a force ripples between us, pulling us together, turning us into one.
He climaxes with a shudder, filling me in more ways than one.
I stop feeding before I take too much and lick the incisions to help them heal faster.
Karl’s eyes are glowing a wolfish yellow as he peers into mine. Then he drops his gaze to my lips and slows his pace. I’m the one who kisses him this time, framing his face with my hands. There’s so much I want to convey in that kiss, things that words can’t describe.
He pulls back and says, “Nothing will tear us apart again, my love. You have my vow.”
“And you have mine. I will never let anyone come between us again, Karl. Never.”
A strange magic wraps around us both, and I know instinctively that our words are binding, our vow… unbreakable .