Rylan's Heart (12 page)

The scene changed and Rylan was tied, on his hands and knees and the Sudir held a whip.

‘No.’ Aviana wanted to scream but she was still unable to make a sound. Her muscles wouldn’t move. She couldn’t run to him and throw her body across his.

The whip came down across his back. She watched as his shoulders stiffened and blood poured from the first wound. No sound came even as the whip struck for the second time. Soon the Sudir was whipping Rylan bloody and she lost count of the times he hit him. Rylan’s body sagged but still there was no sound.

The Sudir dropped the whip. Crouching over him and moaning in joy, his tongue licked Rylan’s back. Her stomach revolted trying to dry heave.

“So defiant. You turn me on. I want you.” He licked at the wounds seeping with blood and sweat.

He pulled Rylan to his feet with the chain around his neck that she was seeing for the first time.

“Do you remember the first time, Rylan? I do. I loved the way you could not help but scream your fury. Every time I take you like this, I love it. You are all mine. I want you now.”

“No. no, no,” she mumbled in her head knowing what was coming. “Please no,” she begged, unable to avert her eyes even as she tried.

A knife was stuck in her heart and twisted as she watched the Sudir violate him. She wanted to cry for him, instead all she could see was the proud tilt of his head and the strength of his shoulders as he refused to be degraded by what that monster was doing to him. He endured it all. If he could endure then she could endure also.

When the Sudir was done, he let Rylan’s body fall to the ground as if he were the trash to be dumped.

“One day,” Rylan’s strong voice left his tortured body, “I will kill you.”

The Sudir laughed. “I worked up an appetite.”

The Sudir shot his hand out and a blaze coming from it wrapped around Rylan, his body lifted and a white light came from Rylan’s body to the Sudir.

“You taste so good and you are all mine.” Again his body was dropped when the Sudir was done. “They still look for you, your family and friends, but I will never give you up.”

Tears streamed down Aviana’s face; this time she didn’t try to stop them. Her fingers flexed before feeling came into her body. She could move. She stood and walked into the camp where Rylan laid battered and bruised.

“Go away.” The adult had taken the teens place.

“No.” She walked up to him and lie beside him.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

“You invited me, remember.”

“Not here. This memory, this thing, is not for sharing.”

“I know.”

“No, you don’t. He had me for years. He used…used me like that and so much more. There was nothing I could do to defend myself. I had to endure, believe that one day I would be free and I would stop him from ever hurting anyone else.”

“And you did. I don’t know how you did, but I know you did.”

“Gabe spent day after day, night after night repairing the bridge I broke between us. I knew if the Sudir broke me, it would only be a matter of time before he found Gabe. I couldn’t let that happen. He finally rebuilt the bridge and began to share my nightmare.

It took a while but he was able to figure out where I was being held and I knew that he and the men who raised us—we thought of them as our fathers—were going to come after me. That’s when I knew I had to put my plan to kill Xolon into effect. If I waited he could take them too.”

“You killed him.” It was a statement. She knew he would always take care of those he cared about.

“I killed him that night. Most Sudir’s are notoriously hard to kill. The best time to attack is when they are weak, but Xolon was nerve weak. He overdosed on me like I was a drug. So I needed to attack him before he could feed.

“He…he…,” his voice dropped off. Aviana placed her hand on his arm.

“He had his special time with me as he liked to call it. Then he dropped by my side and told me how good it was, as if I were nervous and needed to be reassured I had pleased him. That’s when I decided there would never be another night like this one.

“I had learned Xolon’s secret; during intimacy he lost power, and if I was careful I could drain off some of his power. I had been doing it for a while so I had more power than he realized. Enough power to shield myself. I got up and ran. My hands were bound and a collar was around my neck, but my feet were unshackled.

“When Gabe realized what I was doing, he boosted the power I already had. Then he brought Cal and Victor into it and they lent me power. It became my best shot at surviving. Xolon chased me, cursed me, threatened me, but I ran until I came up with a plan. Then I crawled back to him. I would rather die with him than see him live a day longer.”

Aviana raised her hand to her mouth. Looking at him with large eyes, she encouraged him to go on.

“He was triumphant over my defeat. So sure that I needed him, wanted him; all he could think about was feeding from me then punishing me. He gave the order to kneel. I did it willingly. He was so sure I was his, he didn’t immobilize my body. When he started to feed, I started to feed. I syphoned power from his body, at first he didn’t know but soon he felt the drain.

“But I was stronger than him with all the power from my Arbrin kin on top of his power. I stood, allowing myself to grow bigger and bigger as I drained him of his power. To kill this way I opened myself up to darkness. I embraced it all until nothing but his cold dead flat eyes looked back at me. He never stood a chance and I relished every minute of it.”

She reached up to kiss him.

“You can’t.” Rylan spoke quickly.

“Who says?” She touched his lips licking at them until they opened.

She stuck her tongue in and gently caressed him.

“No, Aviana,” He moved away from her, put inches of space between them. “I’m broken. What he did to me…what I did to him.”

“It is not who you are. It does not define you. Each of us has a story where someone took advantage of us, used us, abused us…you, me, and everyone in the world. Yours is a story of overcoming despite what was done to you. Rylan, I’m broken too, but you made me remember I’m so much more than that and so are you.”

She edged closer to him and placed her arms around him. “I was walking home from school one evening when I learned how dangerous the universe was.”

He wrapped her in his warmth rocking her body back and forth with his. A hush came between them as they lie there.

Rylan sat up bringing Aviana with him. “Let’s get out of here.”

She shook her head. “We’re in the perfect spot. I had my whole life ahead of me when he came out of nowhere. The street wasn’t real busy but I never noticed it to be empty before. There was no one around just him. At first, for some stupid reason, I wasn’t afraid of him. I honestly didn’t think he would hurt me.”

She pushed his body back down and snuggled deeper into his arms.

“Guess I am a little too trusting. He apologized to me before he did it. Said he was desperate and he was sorry but that they would find me and take care of me. Told me he picked me out because out of all the females he watched on the campus, I was the only one who could do what it would take to raise her.”

Aviana laughed, her shoulders shook and her eyes went wild as she thought of the conversation she played in her mind on nights she couldn’t sleep. How had that stranger known she would have a child and it would be a girl?

“Then he…then there was Mckayla and my time to be sorry for myself was up. Now there is me in your life and your time to be sorry for yourself is up.” She took her hand and traced his jawline before bending over to kiss it.

“How can you want me? You saw what he did. I couldn’t fight back, I wanted to but you just don’t stand up one day and defeat a Sudir. You have to learn about them and their weaknesses. It took me years to find out what I needed to defeat him. He broke me in the process.”

“No, he did not.”

“You defeated him, and you stood strong. Don’t let the memory of the hell he put you through be your undoing. You can defeat this.”

“You deserve better.” His arms went around her, clenching for a minute before he put her away from him.

“You know what, you’re right. I deserve a male who will love Mckayla as his own and not look at her as if she is second best. I deserve a male who won’t look at me like used goods.” She stood up, “I guess you’re not the man I thought you were.”

She got up and stomped away. There was no way she was arguing with him. He didn’t want her, so be it. She looked around to find him standing, watching her. Had she just walked around in a circle?

“Let me out, Rylan.”

“No. Mckayla is my child, there is no second best about her. Her smile lights up a room and I love how she trusts me to take care of both of you. You’re not used goods. I love your vitality, the way you’re willing to fight for what’s right. How you stepped up to the plate and did whatever you needed for your daughter. To me, you’re what’s right in this world. I want you, Aviana, but I am not an easy man.”

“I know and I like that about you. I think I would break a male who was ‘easy’. I’m strong now; I’ve had no other choice. One of the things that attracts me to you is your strength. You see me, all of me and I can be who I am with you because you won’t break from it.” She stepped up to him and ran her fingers over his chest.

“Don’t tease, Aviana, because if I claim you, I will never let you go.”

“Who said I want to be free of you?”

He reached out, taking her hand. A cord of red connected them quickly bonding their hands together until all you could see was the red.

“What’s happening?” She stared at her hand looking for answers.

“I don’t know.” He was jerked off his feet being pulled up into the atmosphere. “Aviana.” He screamed her name before he was pulled into a void.

She screamed as her arm felt like it was being pulled out of the socket. A knife in her hand encouraged her to cut the bond between them and save her own life. She wouldn’t do it; there was no way she was going to leave him. She was pulled from the ground following him into the swirling vortex overhead, where they were finally reunited.

“Where are we?” Aviana looked around.

The Land was flat with lots of grass. Close to them was a lake with a slow current for swimming. There was a bar-b-cue pit with some chairs around it and a sand box. It was comfy and reminded her of a place you would go to relax.

“I made this retreat when I was young, a place I could come to escape the Sudir. I would lose myself here, jumping into the pool or playing in the sand pit. Sometimes there would even be food on the grill that I could eat.”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Bringing me to your retreat.”

She walked over to the river bringing him with her, their hands still linked. He helped her into the water before he joined her.

“This place is beautiful. I can see why you enjoy it.”

“I was a boy.”

“And now you’re a fully grown male. I can see why you enjoyed it in both forms.”

“You see me as more than I am.”

“No, Rylan I see you exactly for who you are, faults and all.”

He reached over and kissed her, biting her bottom lip before licking it to make it better.

“Be careful, Aviana, if you keep it up, I will want to keep you.”

“You already want to keep me, Rylan. Admit it.”

He pulled her up in his arms and carried her from the water.

“Last chance, Baby. Scream and run or tell me you don’t want this. Do something because if we go any further I’m going to make you mine.”

She took her free arm and wrapping it around his neck, pulled him down on top of her.

“You talk too much.” She attacked his lips. Moving sensually against them until he opened, her tongue slid against his and all thought of running left her.

“So damn beautiful. The first time I saw you in that principal’s office it was all I could do to tame my reaction to you. Then I realized Mckayla was your daughter and I watched you with her. I was insanely jealous at first. I wanted that same love and attention from you. Then I got to know Mckayla and I wanted her for my daughter.”

His tongue moved against hers, dueling, stating he was the dominant one here. She played with him, relenting and then sneak attacked him. “Equals,” she shouted, and he gave way before once again asserting dominance in their game.

She gave a small laugh of contentment as they kissed.

“I want you, Aviana. I want to become one with you. Sink into your depths.”

“What are you waiting for?”

He raised his head, his eyes becoming feral. His teeth sunk into her neck as his body became one with her. There was no beginning or ending. It was a complete mental emersion.

She couldn’t feel the edges of her mind anymore; they expanded until she was so totally a part of Rylan she didn’t know where she ended and he began.

“What’s happening?” She sat up in a different place.

“We merged and became one. I think we passed the soul-bonding trial.”

“How’s that possible? We didn’t…you know, have sex.”

“We will, soon.” He looked at her and licked his lips.

She stood noticing there was a faint connection that ran from her to him and back again. They were bonded, the two of them. It was an intensity that made her feel like fireworks were going off in her mid-section. On the other hand, it was soft and cozy making her want to curl up next to him. She could feel what he was feeling and knew what he was thinking.

“We made this place together, Aviana.”

There was a playground to the left where Mckayla could come and play. To the right was a seating area where they could watch her. There was an outdoor kitchen where they could cook as well as a beautiful house behind it. There was a pond not too far behind them for swimming and a large open space for entertaining.

“We made a home?” Aviana gasped looking at the simplicity of it all.

“And a future. We dreamed together and came up with this. Would you like to live in a place like this?”

She looked up to meet his eyes. “I would love to.”