Chapter 11
Radiant colors of orange and purple streaked the sky as dusk filtered the evening light to an intense glow. Highlighted against the magnificent backdrop was a set of dark, protective shadows. Stopping at the top of the trail, Daya’s heart tripped at the sight.
Raiden and Neka stood together surveying the mountain terrain, his hand curled tightly in the owlcat’s nape. Standing before the flame-filled sky, he had never looked more like her legendary sky hunter. Watching the pair, it dawned on her that she wouldn’t be the only one missing him when he left.
Daya came to stand on Neka’s other side, her eyes focused on Raiden’s profile. Though her stomach rolled with anxiety from the chaotic afternoon, she pulled in the cool, crisp air and focused all her attention on the man hurting beside her.
Neka greeted her with a swish of her furry tail as she rose and gave Raiden an affectionate nudge before departing, her duty completed with Daya’s arrival.
“A few weeks ago, I would have been elated to have a rescue team find me. Heal my injuries and return me home. But now that it’s happened…” Raiden’s eyes stayed locked on the horizon. “It’s hard to believe that I’m going to end the day as someone different than I was this morning.”
“Mmm. And who is that?”
“A warrior with a botched mission and a whole lot of failures to correct.”
“That bad?”
“Death, violence, treachery.” The raw evidence of suffering thickened his voice. “The details are hard to decipher from the havoc in my mind, but I’ve siphoned out enough.”
“Enough to condemn yourself for what happened?”
“Yes,” he said harshly, his jaw flexing.
“Veda, the golden-haired girl I’ve been remembering?
I promised to get her and another little one to safety.
More than that. I made a commitment to be her soul-guardian and take her home where she would be safe and loved.
When we were attacked…” He shook his head.
“I failed her so completely. I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive myself.
Everything that’s happened to her since is my fault. ”
“I’m sorry for both of your suffering. But being responsible and blaming yourself for circumstances outside of your control are two very different things, and you know it.
” Studying the tension stiffening his spine, she drove her point a little deeper.
“Tell me something, what does your mind feel like right now?”
He sighed, blowing out a deep breath. “Like the harshest ice storms at the crux of winter. Hailing and shrieking while an avalanche crashes through it.”
“Exactly. Give yourself time.”
Finally turning to meet her gaze, he gave her a veiled look. “You are an astounding mix of gentle and ferocious, you know that?”
“Is that good?”
“Very good, anaiah.” His stiffness disintegrated as he focused on her. “You’re strong, tough, resilient. And occasionally, when you need to be, you’re unbelievably sweet and caring.”
Her heart tripped, that he’d listed them in that order. Understood her that well. Turbulent emotions reached in and caught her soul, wrenching it into a thousand pieces. He was leaving, and it was going to destroy her.
She needed to encourage him to go back to the path he was always supposed to be on. It was the right thing to do—the only thing that kept him alive and whole—but the thought of sending him away tore her up. Her heart beat rapidly as she warred with herself.
“I’m sorry, anaiah. I didn’t want to leave this way.”
“Raiden—” She stopped herself. “Sorry. Connor.”
“It’s alright. I don’t entirely know who I am anymore, either.”
“Who do you want to be?”
“Yours.” Though he smiled, his eyes were pained. Full of regret and longing that nearly knocked her over in its intensity. “Just your broken warrior.”
“You were never broken, Raiden.”
“Then why do you make me feel whole for the first time in my life?”
Closing her eyes, she struggled with the last of her restraint. Her resolve to keep him as a dream broke when he pressed his forehead to hers in tenderness. Honesty poured from her when she answered. “You make me feel that way, too.”
“You know what we need?”
“What?”
“One more night, just for us.” His breath mixed with hers as they hovered on the verge of passion. “Kiss me, Daya.”
Embracing her desire, she answered with a searing kiss. He caught her, wrapping her in protection as she reeled with emotions stronger than she’d ever felt. Her pulse sped up as the tension between them began to crackle.
“I know it’s just for tonight, but I still want this,” she whispered against his lips. “With you.”
For herself, not as a guardian, but for the soul of the woman who still lived within her. His life would never sync with hers, but she could have this moment with him.
“Just because our time was borrowed, doesn’t make it any less meaningful.”
“You really believe that?” She needed their time together to mean as much to him as it did to her.
“I do. Will you be mine, even if I can’t keep you, Daya?”
“Dayanara,” she shared the name she kept locked in her heart. “My original, given name was Dayanara.”
If the night was all they had, she wanted him to know her true self. She lived as a guardian, but her soul still claimed the name as part of her. He’d helped her reclaim it.
“Dayanara.” He smiled. “Is that a yes?”
“Yes. Make me yours, Raiden.”
Heat simmered in Raiden’s veins as he kissed his huntress. Months of passion built during breathless moments and whispered touches fueled his movements. Hope, longing, and desire flowed between them as he melded them together.
Power filled Daya’s eyes as she broke their kiss to face the embankment.
The earth around them lit with the indefinable hue of magic.
His spine tingled with awareness that his fractured mind hadn’t been able to fully comprehend.
Her use of magic completely intrinsic and natural in a way he’d never witnessed.
She shivered, leaning into him as she focused on a natural seat made of hard packed earth jutting out of the mountainside. Stirring the dirt to her will, she molded and reshaped it into a larger surface for them.
Focusing next on the greenery trailing down the hillside, Daya channeled life and energy into the plants, stretching and growing them into a canopy. The breeze rose to a persistent rustle of sound, twining through the vines and leaves until an almost lyrical melody hovered in the air around them.
Tightening his arms around her, he kissed the column of her neck. “Now there is an inspired use of magic.”
They made their way to her creation, whispered kisses and removal of clothes limiting their movement as they walked.
Raiden caught Daya’s braid when she turned toward the earthen bed, loosening the strands from their tight stricture.
He brushed his fingers through the mass to untangle it and groaned at the sight of the dark waterfall against her bare skin.
Her brows lowered in confusion as she looked back at him, and he grinned, wrapping her hair around his fist. “Indulge me. I’ve had dreams about your hair falling around us when we’re joined together.”
Passion replaced the question in her eyes, and she threw her arms around him.
With newly healed strength, he lifted her up and carried her the last few strides to their bed.
Daya kissed him with fervor, flaming the heat between them to a blaze of urgent need.
They’d been dancing, building to this since the moment they met on the opposite side of the mountain from where they lay now.
Trailing his fingers over her skin, he traced a long scar up her leg and over her hip, massaging the survivor’s mark from some past incident. “Strong and beautiful.” He trailed his lips over her stomach and felt her quiver beneath him. “My huntress.”
“Raiden, I haven’t—” She stumbled over her words. “You’re—”
“I’m your only?”
“Yes. Since… It’s been a very long time.”
“My honor, Dayanara.”
A soft sound left her lips as he spoke, and he smiled against her skin, realizing she needed the words. Whispering her name and pouring everything he felt into soft murmurs and endearments, he covered her entire body in kisses. Worshiping her in his own way, until she was coming apart for him.
He covered her completely as she softened, moving slowly to give her time to adjust. “Just breathe with me, anaiah.”
A shuddering breath shook her as she returned his gaze. The trust in her eyes heated him with a possessive intensity he’d never felt. This magnificent woman who could flatten him with her earth magic or end him with a single shot of her bow, surrendering to him in complete faith.
“That’s it, love,” he caressed her with his voice, raining kisses along the curve of her neck and down her chest. “I’ve got you.”
You’re mine. He held back the words he couldn’t promise. His heart squeezed at the loss, but he pushed it back, wanting to honor their stolen moment together.
The starry sky glowed brightly through the living green that enveloped them, heightening the feeling of magic brewing in the air.
Letting go of his control over his gift, he let it bleed out into the shadows of the night, melding with the embers of Daya’s magic that lingered in the plants and soil.
Color rose and glowed around them in sparking arcs of light he could feel more than see.
Daya came alive as she relaxed, tightening her arms around him as she moved with him. “Over.”
He complied with a grin at her earnestness, cradling her lower back as he flipped them.
Rising over him, she dipped her head to kiss him deeply, encouraging her hair to cascade around them.
The dark strands fluttered in the breeze, cutting off everything but her sparkling eyes for a moment.
The depth of emotion in her eyes seared him, matching what he felt inside and then some.
“Anaiah,” he said, heart swelling with more than passion.
“I wanted to make your dream real.”
“You’ve done that and more, love.”
He tunneled his fingers into her hair, holding her head tenderly in place as he met her lips.
Sealing them together, he poured his heart into the kiss.
She’d been his saving grace when she’d found him on the mountainside.
He’d never have guessed she’d also be the one to make him whole.
Moving his hands to her sides, he held her tight as they flew together.
Vision full of nothing but her deep, earth brown eyes, he let the feeling of rightness overwhelm him. Joy and passion overrode everything but her as the sparks of flame exploded between them. He wrapped his arms around her as she collapsed over him and wondered how one night would ever be enough.
A single tear soaked into his shoulder where Daya had buried her face against him. Keeping one arm securely over her back, he stroked her hair and pressed a kiss to her head.
Leaving her when dawn came was going to rip his soul apart.