Wrath: The Niteclif Evolutions, Book 2 (45 page)

Bahlin sat all the way down in front of me. “If you believe in destiny, Maddy, you would have ended up with Hellion anyway, and I would have missed out on the opportunity for even the brief time we had together,” he whispered. “I didn’t want to miss one minute.”

“And if I believe in free will?”

“Then you’ve chosen Hellion.”

“Too right, mate.” Hellion stepped out of the darkness, his eyes entirely black.

Fuck.

Bahlin surged to his feet and backed away from me, giving himself room to maneuver if necessary.

Hellion didn’t come any closer to us. He trembled with rage, his heartache visible in the depth of his eyes. I’d hurt him with this indecision of mine, and to hear the regret I’d been unable to mask with Bahlin…

“Hellion,” I said softly, holding out a hand to him.

He shook his head, turning to stare out over the lake. Praen’s body lay forgotten mere yards away, the drama of the shattered dreams of the living more relevant than the dead who held no hope of resurrection.

I couldn’t contain the sob that broke from my chest. Looking from man to man, dragon to warlock, I made a decision that would haunt me for a lifetime. It hurt me in every way possible, but I had to put an end to this indecision, this constant, unbearable heartache. These two men had been set against each other in a fight for my love, and there could only be one winner. I turned myself to the west and, with my toes pushing and my fingers ripping at the grass, I dragged myself across the ground toward my salvation.

He watched me, his face riddled with pain and doubt as his eyes slid from me to the man behind me. It was clear he thought I’d come to say goodbye. Shaking, he bent and helped me stand. I was hurt enough that I couldn’t do it without his support as the stab wound in my side throbbed and the slices and cuts all over my body burned, pulling apart as I moved. My skin twitched. Endorphins from the fight could kick back in any time now. I didn’t know how much longer I’d be able to hold it together, but this had to be done before I lost it—both my nerve and consciousness—because the man behind me was suffering, and I knew it.

Standing on legs as shaky as a newborn foal’s, I clung desperately to my hope. He was aloof, reserved, as if by keeping himself distanced he could stop the momentum of the moment. But he was wrong. I stroked his face and pushed his hair out of his eyes and smiled tentatively, tears coursing down my cheeks. There would be no wavering any longer, no going back and forth between the two, and I knew it.

“I love you,” I said.

“But is it enough?” he whispered in a rough, emotion-choked voice.

“It will have to be. It’s all I’ve got to offer you.”

He raised a hand to my face and I wobbled without the support of both of his arms.
Prophetic?
I wondered. It was too deep a thought for me to consider here and now.

“Is this what you want, Maddy? Because I won’t have less than all of you.” He looked over my shoulder at the other man.

I could hear his breathing escalating as he understood what was happening, that I hadn’t crawled across the grass to say goodbye to his competition but to offer my heart to the other man.

“No,” said the voice from my back. “Maddy, no, don’t do this. Don’t throw this away.”

I turned and looked at Bahlin, my heart shattering and the tears flowing faster. “I’ll always love you, Bahlin.”

“But not enough to choose me.” He shook his head, and bitterness sang down the lines of tension between us.

I lifted a trembling hand, covered with blood and dirt, to my face to wipe the tears away. “I don’t think we’re entirely good for each other, Bay. I’m so sorry.” My voice cracked on the last word, and strong hands supported me as I stood facing my old lover.

“Give me a chance, Maddy. Just one more chance. Please,” he asked, holding out a hand to me.

I shook my head quickly and nearly collapsed, but Hellion’s arms were there to catch me.

“Maddy, love, we need to go home and get you tended. Your side is bleeding profusely,” Hellion said softly, keeping his eyes cast down and away from the other man.

“Please don’t make this harder, Bay. If you ever loved me—”

“I never stopped,” he choked out as his first tears fell. “I never stopped.”

A gasping sob escaped me, and I bit my hand to keep any further sound from betraying my heartbreak. I knew that if I lost it now, I’d be done for. I would completely break down, and neither man needed that. Hellion didn’t need the doubt. Bahlin didn’t need the false hope that I could be persuaded to change my mind.

I reached out a hand to Bahlin, and he shook his head. “Don’t do this, Maddy.” His words were guttural and deep, and I wondered if his dragon was begging me or if it was the man. Did it matter? No. It only hurt more. I beckoned to him with my hand, and I took a shaky step away from Hellion.

“Bahlin,” I whispered.

He strode forward and crushed me to him, and I grunted in pain. His mouth came down on mine, and I kissed him as if he was the air I needed to breathe. I broke the kiss and he didn’t let go.

“Bahlin,” I whispered, “I have to go. I’m hurting—”

“Me too,” he said with a small smile.

I nodded quickly and whimpered, and he handed me back to Hellion.

In a hard voice, he said, “Love her well, because if you don’t, I will
always
be right there, waiting for you to make that one unforgivable mistake that sends her back to me.”

“I know,” Hellion said, lifting me up and cradling me in his arms. He turned to go and I stopped him.

I looked at Bahlin one last time, and then Hellion turned back to dematerialize and take me home. I allowed myself one final moment of terror.
Was I making the right decision?
Only time would tell.

The last thing I heard was Bahlin’s anguished roar as he took to the air. Then we were gone.

About the Author

Denise Tompkins lives in the heart of the South where the neighbors still know your name, all food forms are considered fry-able and bugs die only to be reincarnated in aggressive, blood-craving triplicate. Thrilled to finally live somewhere that can boast 3 ½ seasons (winter’s only noticeable because the trees are naked), her favorite season is definitely fall. It’s the time of year when the gardens are just about to pass into winter’s brief silence, and the leaves are out to prove that nature is the most brilliant artist of all.

A life-long voracious reader, Denise has three favorite authors. Why three? Because favorite authors are like chips: a person can’t have just one. Her little house was so overrun with books last year that her darling husband bought her an e-reader out of self-preservation. He was (legitimately) afraid she might begin throwing out pots and pans to make room for more books, and he didn’t want to starve.

You can find out more about Denise by visiting her website,
www.denisetompkins.net
, or by following her on Twitter,
@DeniseJTompkins
.

Look for these titles by Denise Tompkins

Now Available:

The Niteclif Evolutions

Legacy

When Fate makes you her bitch, accept it and adapt. Or die.

Legacy

© 2011 Denise Tompkins

The Niteclif Evolutions, Book 1

Looking back on the wish she made on Midsummer’s Eve, Maddy Niteclif should have been more specific. She only wanted to escape the shadowy nightmares that plagued her nights, not to be thrust into a completely altered reality.

If a strangely familiar, sexy dragon-shifter named Bahlin, who causes a never-to-be-mentioned-again fainting spell, isn’t enough to make her question her sanity, his insistence she’s
the
Niteclif ought to do the job. Prophesied super-sleuth of the supernatural world—a world that desperately needs her help—isn’t a job she’s remotely qualified for no matter
what
her family tree says.

Catapulted into a very different London ruled by dark mythology, mystery and murder, Maddy makes a few startling discoveries. Paranormal creatures exist. Getting shot really sucks. And her body responds remarkably well to dragon magic—in more ways than simple wound healing.

But in this kill-or-be-killed world, reality bites. And Maddy must choose to go back to what she knows…or stay and fight for the man she knows she can’t live without.

Warning: This book contains a shape-shifting dragon with a Scottish accent, modern and archaic weapons, global inter-species politics that make democracy seem mild, some very steamy sex underground, a severed head, murder, and…oh yeah…a woman caught in the middle of it all.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Legacy:

“Maddy?” Bahlin’s voice was soft but concerned. “It’s been nearly an hour. Are you okay?”

I sat up and held my hands out in front of my face. Yep, prunes. I was finished.

“I’ll be out in a minute, Bay,” I said, pushing myself up to standing and reaching for a towel. I stepped out onto the tile floor and briskly dried myself off, wrapping the towel around my torso. It was a near thing, but it went all the way around. I’d be okay if I didn’t move too much. I finger-combed my hair and went to the door, peaking out. Bahlin sat on the edge of the bed in a pair of boxer shorts. He looked up at me and smiled and it was such a winsome look that I smiled back.

“You’re beautiful when you smile like that,” he whispered, standing and moving toward me. I noticed the slight tenting of his boxers and whipped my gaze back to his eyes. Gently he said, “I believe that, to quote you, it was something like ‘sex and the whole near-death-reaffirming-life thing,’ wasn’t it?”

I continued to stare at him, unsure what to do. I had had two lovers in my lifetime, both results of relationships affectionately referred to as monogamous monotony by my girlfriends. Neither relationship had left me with a wild, passionate view of sex. One ex-boyfriend had even accused me of being an ice princess, unreachable, unpleasurable. Such stellar reviews of my past performance definitely tainted the developing fantasy I had about the man standing in front of me. So did I give in to the raging primal instinct to reaffirm life, or did I stick to my basic moral code, lock myself in the bathroom and wish him luck with himself? Of course, in all my mental ramblings I’d forgotten to take into consideration one thing: the man himself.

Bahlin approached me slowly, his boxers twitching from their internal assault. He reached me and, instead of pulling me up into a wild embrace, he ran a finger down my bare arm leaving a trail of goose flesh in its wake. I looked up into his eyes and they were the deep, dark sapphire color that had stolen my breath in my first night’s dream. He sank his head toward me and brushed his lips over mine, breathing out the words, “
A stór
,” as he nibbled his way to my jaw. I was barely breathing, scared to encourage him and equally scared he’d stop his exploration of my neck, then my shoulders. He began working his way back up to my ears, his breath hot.

“Ah, my love, you’re such a temptation,” he whispered.

“You don’t love me,” I whispered back.

He lifted his head, drawing his attention from my ear to my eyes. “You don’t know that,” he said in a gentle voice.

“I do,” I said. “You’ve not known me long enough for me to drive you crazy. The only people who loved me unconditionally are dead.” Tears blurred my vision and I looked down, giving them permission to slip down my cheeks.

“Ah, your parents.” He lifted his hand from my shoulder to chin and pushed up gently, forcing me to meet his gaze. “They are gone but never forgotten,
mo
muirnin
. Never doubt that.” He stroked a finger down my neck, and I shivered. “And, with all respect due you, I don’t believe you’re qualified to tell me how I do or don’t feel.”

I nodded my head too fast, pushing yet more tears over the dam of my lower lashes. He bent his head even closer to mine and kissed the tears away.

“We are fated, you and I,” he said.

“Fated? Is that what I’m not supposed to know?”

“Ah, no.” He took a deep breath and stepped back from me. But he didn’t elaborate.

I felt adrift in the large room without him to serve as my anchor. I reached out for him, and he stepped into me with the passion I had expected with his first approach. He wrapped his arms around me and crushed me to his chest so tightly I let out an
oompf
and he laughed, squatting down and picking me up by wrapping his arms around my upper thighs before spinning me around. I locked my hands behind his neck and bent my forehead to his.

“Do you want me as much as I want you,
mo chrid
?” he asked, sliding me slowly down the front of his body. His erection, trapped behind the thin cotton of his underwear, was blazing hot against my lower belly as he gripped my hips and held me close to him.

I let my head fall back and he feasted on my neck, kissing and nipping from jaw to shoulder with more intent than moments before. He quickly dipped his head and licked his way along the top of my left breast over my heart, slipping his tongue under the edge of the towel.