Out Of The Darkness (7 page)

Chapter 11

She walked and she thought. Hurt for him, for the pain he still suffered to this day. Yet the pain was still so fresh in Nalik
’s voice that she had to fight tears for him.

Only the knowledge that he wouldn
’t appreciate them kept her from allowing them to fall.

Instead she just kept walking. His hand had fallen from her elbow an hour or so earlier, but she still stayed close at his side. He said very little, just directions to watch where she stepped, or to be silent and still when he ordered.

She obeyed, figuring it more prudent to cooperate with her only ally in this place than to buck the authority he seemed to think he possessed over her. She needed him, like or not. And she was sticking to him like glue. He was not going off by himself again, leaving her behind. Anything could have happened to her—or
him—
and she would have never known. They weren’t separating again. Eventually the silence got to her.

“So...you never answered my question.
Are you like a werewolf now?”

“Not exactly. Keep walking.”

“I’m walking. But I can walk and talk at the same time.” And she definitely could. The longer she walked through the healthy forest, breathing in the scent of blooming flowers and trees, feeling the sun on her skin, the better she felt. The stronger she felt.

She
’d always had that connection to the sun and the plants. Apparently it didn’t matter what realm she was in. “So what exactly?”

“Curious, much? That
’s bound to get you into trouble, kitten.”

“Or it could get me
out
of trouble, if you think about it. Just answer the question. What could it hurt? I won’t ever tell anyone.” And she wouldn’t. Once she gave her word, she stuck by it. “What else can you do, and is it all because of what my grandfather did? My sister said some Dardaptoans have
gifts,
abilities that aren’t exactly the usual. Josey’s husband, for instance. He supposedly can talk to Josey inside her head.” And Cass couldn’t help but think how romantic that was. Josey was hearing impaired, and having the man who loved her be able to speak to her so privately? How could that not be right?

“Some do. And it makes them damned annoying.”

“So...do you?” She studied him again, knowing that he was fully aware she was staring. He didn’t turn his scarred cheek away and she admired that. To some extent.

The man still scared her, no matter that he
’d left her tree alone like she’d asked. He hadn’t had to do that. But he had.

He swore, then stopped walking. Jerked around to face her.

“No. I was as damned ordinary as any other Dardaptoan shit who inherited his position within his family. I was moderately good as a warrior, somewhat decent as a hunter. I know how to use my sword because the knowledge was beaten into me as a boy. I once sat at the right hand of your dear brother-in-law until he decided
I
was the monster your grandfather had made me. Now I am something that no one knows. And only you—a mere girl with nothing to offer in return—has any inkling what that
something
is. I ought to seek to kill you for that alone.”

She wanted to fight, to pull away, to squeal and run. But Cass forced herself not to. Made herself look up at him—and he was nearly a foot taller than she was—and not flinch. “But you won
’t. Because even though others may
think
you are the boogeyman, you’re not. You could have left me without regret, and we both know it. You could return to our world and say I was killed, and no one would know any differently. But you haven’t. You came back and you brought me food. I don’t think you’re half the monster you think you are.”

“Am I not?” He pulled her off her feet until barely a breath separated her mouth from his. “Remember this, little kitten, not all monsters strike when you can see. And not all want what you think they want. Some of us wait until you least expect it. And then you don
’t have a chance in three hells of escaping.”

“If you
’re such a big bad monster, then, what do you want from me?” She didn’t know where the words came from, or the bravery, but she said them.

“Honey, you
’re old enough to figure that out for yourself. But if you need an example...”

Then he was kissing her. Cass didn
’t know what to do at first. It had probably been about four years since the last time she was kissed. And the boy who’d done that kissing hadn’t been anything like the man holding her now.

Tyler had been a boy no older than she, and the times they
’d been together had been sweet and very few. Affection between them had built gradually.
Heat
had built between them even more slowly.

It wasn
’t a thing like this. This was...this was...hot. More than she’d expected.

She
’d never thought of kissing Nalik, had never even imagined he would want to kiss her.

But somehow her hands were on his shoulders, playing with the black hair that curled around the collar of his tunic. His hands had moved, too. He
’d grabbed her rear with one hand, and the other was spread over her back, pushing her chest to his.

She kissed him back.

Chapter 12

What was he doing? This was stupid. A damned mistake that was going to bite him in the ass—probably the first time his guard was down. But...how many years had he waited to hold his
Rajni
?

Since he was old enough to have his first stirring of sexual need. The women he
’d been with since then had just been a pale second to the woman in his arms, and he had always known that.

It was the thought of his
Rajni
that had gotten him through the days in Taniss’s basement of hell. The thought that she was out there somewhere, that Taniss could very well have had
her
in one of his other cages—that was what had kept him breathing, even after his sister and brother were gone, and his sister-in-law damned near.

He
’d never imagined he’d find her as one of Taniss’s offshoots.

Just another of the shitty ways the goddess who was supposed to protect him had shafted him.

But he didn’t feel shafted now. Not with her thin body pressed against his, her curves soft and inviting. Her hips were narrow, but her ass felt right and perfect where he cupped it. His fingers could just brush the long mass of dark curls hanging loose down her back. His mate was beautiful and perfect in his arms--young, healthy and whole.

It would take a stronger male than he to resist.

***

She kept
kissing
him. She could have pulled away, and a logical part of her knew that she should. But she didn’t.

It was he who pulled away first. “Shit. We won
’t be doing that again.”

What was she supposed to say to that? “Chalk it up to the moment. Stupidity in the face of danger.”

“Little girl, I’m the danger.”

Somehow she doubted she would ever see him that way again. Yes, he was big and terrifying. Yes, he wasn
’t a
nice
man. She would never forget that. And there was no denying that he could probably kill someone without raising a sweat—or even blinking.

But a man intent on hurting a woman
didn’t kiss like
that.
Even Cass knew that.

“
Keep telling yourself that. Let’s get walking. I want to go home. I find myself feeling desperate for some toothpaste, all of a sudden.”

He snorted. “You surprise me.”

You’ve not seen anything yet, big guy.

She refused to follow him blindly; instead walking at his side, except where the path would narrow. When it was necessary she
’d gladly let him fight their way through the overgrowth.

He was a heck of a lot bigger than she was, and a heck of a lot more immortal.

She’d had her fair share of scratches from thorns.

With him leading the way for a good portion of their path she was free to study the flora of this new place.

It was interesting; she could see similarities between her own world and these plants. These plants were less evolved in some cases, mimicking ancestral specimens she’d studied during her teen years.

She
’d taken her love of plants past hobby and into obsession.

Probably her Druid traits.

She wasn’t ready to think about
that
so she pushed those thoughts away. She’d deal with them when she was safely back in her own world. Whenever or however that was.

Which had her thinking... “So. How do these realms work,
anyway? Is it like some sort of alternate dimension?”

“Not like you
’re thinking. Not like human fiction and television has made them out to be.”

“Then how are they?”

“I’m not a damned scientist.”

“But you know more than
I
do. At least tell me what you know. I hate being in the dark about things. I don’t think that’s fair—or very helpful.” And if she could get him talking, get him to open up about things, maybe she could figure out why kissing him hadn’t felt so odd after all. Figure out why it had felt so normal. So familiar. So almost right, even. What was she supposed to think about that?

Chapter 13

How in the three hells was he supposed to put into words what he’d never fully understood? Like most Dardaptoans of his time, like most
Predatoi,
he knew only enough of the realms to be able to travel to the ones he wanted. And those had been limited to the seven most likely to spew forth demon vagrants for him to hunt.

This wasn
’t one of those seven, and it burned him that his female knew more of where they were than he did. It was
his
duty to protect her, not the other way around. And how could he protect if he wasn’t informed?

“What if something happens and we get separated? Shouldn
’t I at least have an idea of what to do?”

He couldn
’t argue with that. What if something did happen to him? He wasn’t arrogant enough to think himself infallible. Time and Taniss had proven that fact to him more easily than he wanted to remember.

The thought of his female lost in a world
he
knew nothing about bothered him. It would any male, he knew that. Didn’t he have the duty to ensure she could navigate this world safely? “I’m not an expert on the different worlds.”

“You still know more than I do.”

“There are eighteen different realms. Some Kinds call them layers. I prefer layers. It makes more sense that way. Portkeys are basically a temporary acid, if you will, that dissolves the right layer between the different worlds. Allowing travelers to pass through very briefly.”

“Layers on what?”

“For my understanding? Reality.” He stopped walking and motioned to a nearby outcropping of rocks. “Sit.”

He could go on for hours without stopping, but though she
’d done no complaining, it was obviously wearing on her. He recalled how narrow she had felt against him. She was a delicate human, why had he thought to push her so brutally?

“So what do you mean by reality?”

“Here’s the way it was explained to me a long time ago. Each world, for lack of a better term, occupies a certain space. On top of each space is another equally
real
space. Almost like the layers of an onion. Similar, but each layer is its own separate entity, and its shape and lands may be different, but the general functions are the same. Air, plants, land, water. Inhabitants. Each layer develops in its own time and way. We can’t see them, at least most people can’t. And not with the naked eye. But there are ways between these spaces.”

“Portkeys. Theo told me.”

“Very informative, your cousin-by-marriage.”

“He was being nice. He knew I wasn
’t exactly
happy
to be in Dardanos. Even with my sister and cousins there.” A pensive look hit her pretty face. A sadness that he definitely hadn’t expected.

“Girl?”

“Don’t call me that. I do have a name, just like you do,
Nalik.
”

“Cassandra. Is that better? Ironic that you have developed such friendship with Theo, being named after the cursed prophetess. What troubles you now?”

“Do you think my sister is ok? That
thing
that grabbed us didn’t hurt her or anyone else, did it?”

He thought of the purple mist that had surrounded them. It hadn
’t been like a normal portkey. He’d known that the moment it had snaked an ethereal tentacle around his
Rajni
’s leg and pulled her toward its center.