16. NIGHTMARES AND DARKNESS
“. . . Something that the ancients feared and what haunts ones’ dreams. I will come to collect it when the time is right.”
AEbon’s words echoed over and over again in a loop as I tore through the forest, desperately trying to get to Niall.
I could feel him. He was close.
The thrumming tugged at my chest, pulling me this way and that, around trees and through marshes. I willed my legs to keep going after what felt like hours of running.
One more push, I told myself, forcing my leg muscles to move.
With one final stride, I broke through the tree line and fell to my knees upon a sea of gray soil and crumbling mountains and hills.
The barren, harsh land smelled stale and tarnished.
Nothing but rocks littered the landscape, save for a lone tree on a hill maybe forty feet ahead.
It was dead and warped beyond its natural posture, its limbs sagging downward as if they were tied with invisible ropes and being pulled into the underworld.
And there, beneath the tree, Niall lay motionless.
I tried to stand, only to be weighed down with exhaustion. It was as if someone had cast a net over me and was forcing me lower, staunching every effort I made to get to my mate. I grunted as I succumbed to a crawl.
“Niall,” I called out.
As I neared, he began thrashing on the ground. I yelled for him again, but the invisible force stamped me further into the dirt. Darkness closed in around me, and a voice laughed as it circled.
A presence swarmed my mind before I could even fathom what was happening. My mental shield was up, but it shuddered as a torrent of inky black talons slashed at the white stone.
“Auren,” Niall’s voice finally rang out.
I looked up to see him reaching a hand toward me, his body jerking in abnormal movements. He was so close, yet still so far away.
Then, another male’s voice slithered across my mind.
“You can’t save him. You couldn’t even save your family,” it said. It was male. Familiar . . . yet, I was sure I’d never heard it. “You need someone to show you how to use your power. How to really use it.”
“Stop it!” I yelled, trying to shake the voice from my head.
Still, it came closer, though no one was there. “I can teach you how, if you’d let me.”
“Auren,” Niall begged.
I reached for him, my arm trembling as I strained to maintain my mental shield against whatever force was slamming into it.
“Come to me and let me show you how to thrive,” the voice coaxed.
“No!” I cried out.
Tears streamed down my face as I fought to get to my mate. But it was no use. I was too weak. My mental shield crumbled, and I was swallowed by the darkness.
I awoke in tears, my pillow utterly soaked.
The bedchamber was dark and quiet, save for the crackling of the fire and a few orbs floating in the nearby corner. When I stirred, one of them whirled, coming to me as if to check on me before it turned and slipped out the door.
I stretched my limbs, which no longer felt shaky and weak. In fact, I felt renewed and full of energy.
The last thing I remembered before falling asleep was Niall kissing me. Judging by the night clothes I now wore, and the fact that I was in his bed, he must have moved me here to rest.
I sat up and looked around.
Nothing had changed since I’d last been here. The black walls glistened in the cozy firelight. I gripped the blanket and brought it up to my nose. It smelled like him—vanilla, and chestnuts, and a hint of fireside.
The door creaked open, and his handsome face stared back at me, golden eyes glowing bright.
“Hi,” I breathed out, smiling as he came to sit next to me on the bed.
“Hi.” His voice was a purr against my skin as he planted a kiss on the point of my shoulder.
“Why are your eyes so bright right now?”
“Because I missed you,” he said. “And I’m glad to finally see you awake.”
“Finally?” I lifted a teasing brow.
“Darling, you’ve been asleep for a week.”
“A week!?” I didn’t think I could sit up any straighter, but I did.
He chuckled lightly and smoothed a hand along my arm.
“Between what you did to get me out of Benmoor, and summoning Nephira, you used damn near all your power. I knew you would need to sleep for a good while, but I wasn’t expecting it to be this long.
Amarna checked on you a few times to make sure you were okay.
You have a very deep well of power—which is good—but that also means it takes a while to replenish it. ”
“Will I always run out that quickly though? Will I always have to sleep for a week?” The thought of the recovery time was almost more annoying than using all my power.
“When it comes to breaking wards the way you can, that’s something no one else can even do.
It may not feel like a lot, but you spent a great deal of power each time you did it.
And from the info I gathered, you did it four times in Benmoor.
Then using the Alatyr on top of all that .
. . Amarna was surprised you even succeeded in summoning anyone. ”
“Geez, remind me to thank her for believing in me.”
He grinned. “You know what I mean. And no, you won’t always need to sleep this long after. It should take you less time to recover as you learn to utilize your power more efficiently.”
“Was my rescue effort not efficient enough for you?” I joked, pushing his arm playfully.
He caught my hand and moved to pin me against the bed. “Oh, it was. And you should know, I wanted to take you in the middle of that chamber the moment I saw you bend those guards to your will.”
“Niall! You were half dead!”
“Only half,” he argued.
I couldn’t decide whether to scoff or laugh as he slipped his arm around my back and moved me across the massive mattress.
He positioned himself above me, his eyes drifting down my silk-clothed body. “You must already be a goddess, because no one else brings me to my knees as quickly as you do.”
My skin sang with chills as he trailed kisses up my torso over my shift, but the image of his thrashing body—him calling out for me, and me being unable to get to him—lingered at the front of my mind.
“I had a nightmare,” I blurted out.
He continued moving his lips along my skin between my collarbone and neck. “Then let me take your mind off of it.”
His hand began roaming over my body, successfully pulling my thoughts from those dark depths and back to the heat of the moment as the warmth of his palm caressed over the curve of my hip.
I let out a breathy laugh. “I also just came out of a week-long sleep, and the first thing you want to do is ravage me?”
“A week is far too long to go without worshiping your body.”
“Mmm. You’ve always been a smooth talker.” I wasn’t complaining in the least bit, though. The evidence that had begun to seep through my undergarments was enough to say so.
“It seems to be working,” he said, lifting his head to meet my gaze.
“It is.”
I pressed my mouth to his, and his tongue swept in with a smooth stroke that ignited the growing fire within me. The images of the nightmare faded, and I was instantly lost in his touch. His hands were everywhere, as if he feared I would evaporate if he didn’t contain every part of me.
He reached to tug my undergarments down, flinging them across the room as soon as they came free.
“Why did I put so many pieces of clothing on you?” he mumbled as he slipped his hand up the silk shift, dragging it up and over my breasts.
“Two pieces is hardly anything,” I said playfully.
“It’s two too many,” he growled, tugging the fabric over my head and then catching my neck, guiding it back onto the dark sheets.
He sat up and removed his own shirt, and I marveled at his physique while he continued undressing.
His shroud appeared to dance across his upper chest in the fire light, as if the markings were truly shadows come to life.
Then my eyes snagged on his length as he freed himself from his pants.
The sight of him had me aching with desire.
His pants hit the floor somewhere across the room, and I was met with another ravenous kiss.
He positioned his body over mine, but this time there was no taunting or playing beforehand. He pushed into me, seating himself in one smooth thrust, letting out a deep groan of pleasure that was even louder than the moan I released.
As he felt my core adjusting around him he leaned down and kissed me again, and I brought my legs up around his waist, urging him deeper. He filled me so perfectly, so fully. I never wanted our bodies to separate.
He began to pump his hips, and I clawed at his shoulder blades, desperate to get closer. Skin on skin wasn’t nearly enough. I wanted to drink him in and get lost underneath his body for eternity. It felt so good to be back in his arms, to feel the heat between our bodies.
“Niall,” I breathed, moaning at the delicious pace he set. “Niall, I need more.”
He tugged my head to the side by my hair, exposing my neck to him. “Tell me what you want, my love,” he said, licking a line from my collarbone to my jaw and sending shivers rippling across my chest.
“I want . . . your darkness.”
His hips halted and he lifted his head. When his eyes met mine, they pulsed with a feral need. A mechanism within him had been triggered, unlocked with my words.
Ever since Benmoor, he seemed different in a way that I couldn’t quite pinpoint. He was saying all the same things, but his actions were slightly off. It was as if he was warring with something inside him. Something that was fighting to take over.
His lips parted as if to speak, but his hands moved first, and he flipped me onto my stomach so quickly that I gasped. The darkness that I asked for seemed to take control of him, and it sent a thrill through me as he grabbed hold of my hips and drove himself deep.
He grunted in satisfaction, then in a breathy rasp, he said, “You are a goddess.”
I grinned at his words.
His hand gripped my neck, pulling my head back to him as he leaned forward to my ear. “Tell me you’re mine.”
The mix of pleasure from what I felt between my thighs, coupled with the dominating grasp he held on my neck, made me sprint toward release. I was burning from the inside out. Burning with pleasure, aching with need, succumbing to ecstasy.
“I’m yours,” I said.
His shadows seeped out from his shoulders and wound around me, caressing my skin and making me writhe before him. I felt him everywhere all at once. Every inch of my body was wrapped in his shadowy embrace as his hands held me steadily.
I had the fleeting thought that I needed to have control over my emotions as I approached my climax, so I willed my power to stay down, but when a shadowy tendril coiled around the aching bud at my core, just above where Niall was still gloriously sliding in and out, I lost focus.
There was nothing more I could do as I became overwhelmed by the sensation.
The shadow flicked the sensitive area ever so lightly, over and over, until I was crying out at the intense ecstasy and gushing where we were joined.
To my surprise, my power obeyed and stayed tucked away. I didn’t believe it at first, and I waited for some sort of light or energy to burst forth from me as a delayed reaction. But it remained calm, despite my emotionally heightened state.
I sank forward onto my elbows when Niall finally let go of my neck, but instead of finishing himself, he pulled out, and brought my hips up to his face.
His tongue indulged in the slickness that seeped from between my thighs, before sucking on that same spot that the shadows had focused on.
An intense pulse shot down my legs, and I quivered against his mouth, but after a few more movements of his tongue, I was climbing toward oblivion once more.
He sent me over the edge again, savoring my pleasure on his lips, then he lowered me back to the bed, and promptly slid back inside me to the hilt.
I moaned at the feel of him spreading me open again, too strung out and floating amongst the stars in my mind as I reveled in pleasure. He could do this all night if he wanted to, and I’d let him. I was his to take over and over again, as much as he pleased.
“You’re mine,” he said as he pounded into me, seemingly reading my thoughts. And with one last thrust, he pumped his release inside me with a guttural groan, and his shadows flowed out around us like waves crashing onto the shore.