TANIA
She abandoned herself to his touch, his taste. His strong hands mapped her body, gentle. He seemed to revere her, to memorize her as if he were a blind man. As if he was one of her worshippers awed that she was before him. Was that the case?
It didn't matter! His mouth on all her sensuous points mattered, his teeth nipping at her, his tongue tasting her as if she were the most delicious and delicate treat. She clutched him to her, sank her nails into his back and scored her way down its rigid muscles that still flowed beneath her touch.
He held her to him, strong and virile. His heat seeped into her and she drew it like a long starved child. She couldn't get enough, couldn't touch him enough. Her mouth devoured him, claimed him with a desperation of knowing this would be the only time she'd hold him like this. And he was intoxicating, adictive.
As frantic as they were in their passion, he whispered sweet words to her. Words that broke her heart, words she couldn't help but utter back to him. How could she love him so deep? Need him this much?
Her body sang its response to him, her power soared and met his, entwined. It was like she was a piece of a puzzle that made sense only withing his arms, became complete. Her skin burned with his slightest touch but as they lay against each other she became a raging fire that consumed and was consumed by him.
She felt her teeth aching, her canines to be precise and following some primal instinct that overrode any common sense, she attacked. Her teeth sank into his jugular, at the point where his neck flowed into his shoulder. Her mind was in a haze of pleasure as she felt his pulse against her teeth. Pleasure that intensified as his own canines sank into her.
She screamed, convulsing in his arms as something snapped between them. Power. Nia was enough of a goddess to realise the finality of the bond. To realise her uncle was going to lose it, maybe enough to throw her into the dungeons. In that moment she didn't care.
Then even more power surged inside her, like something that had been caged inside her had found its freedom. She didn't have time to be scared as the sentient power took over and sank her teeth into the same bite she'd just made. Nia felt her lover's teeth find the bite he'd given her and she came again.
Her memories came with the resurgence of her wolf. Everything. She chocked on a sob, conflicted. Lex drew back and met her pained gaze with his own. "Nia, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten so carried away."
He sounded so anguished, full of self loathing. "No, I wanted this, that's not why I'm upset." She let the tears have free reign.
His hand brushed her tears away, his expression still pained. "Then what is it?"
"He made me love him." As he froze in her arms, Nia realised her mistake. "Umbran," she corrected his assumption, not that that was much of an explanation. "He told me I was his niece, that his enemies had taken and tortured me until I lost my memory. In the last three months he made me love him so much that I was willing to mate with Jake to please him. Why would he do that to me?"
"He's evil Nia," her mate soothed.
Nia was no longer so sure. Yes Umbran had done and still did terrible things but he had a good side. Nia had felt it. "But he loved me." She argued.
"He probably does, you're easy to love." Lex comforted.
"But why?" She asked again. "Why did he even bother? If he only wanted me with his 'Alpha' he could've just been horrible and have Jake be the only nice guy around. He could've tortured me until I gave in or something."
"I'm just glad he didn't do either." Lex shuddered and drew her close.
"He..." there was a booming sound, fury in raw power, Nia's eyes widened.
Lex scrambled up, ready to fight and guard her. "What is it?" He demanded.
"Umbran." Nia took up her nightie and gown then quickly got into them. There were leaves on it and she brushed them off hastily.
"I'm gonna kill him." Lex gritted.
Nia shook her head. "He's going to break into this time pocket and when he does, you'll go back to earth. We're not really together."
"Wait. Are you saying we didn't just mate?"
Even as Umbran's power continued its assault, Nia couldn't help the pleased smile on her face. "No my alpha, we bridged time and space to be together."
Lex came to take her in his arms, his lips taking hers in a brutal and quick kiss. "I won't have you facing him alone. Come with me."
"You're not with the pack and he will follow if I just leave. He won't hurt me."
"Nia..." he started to argue then promptly vanished as the dark god shattered their tiny reality.
Umbran was in his dark glory, something Nia had never seen before. He made the anger he'd displayed the first time they'd met seem like a two year old's tantrum. His clothes smoked with the essence of darkness, his eyes pits of every toment imaginable. Fear was a tangible cloud he exuded and sparks of what she knew was pain glittered to those around him.
She straightened her back and met his hypnotic gaze with her own fury. "Why?" She demanded.
"How is your little alpha alive?" He demanded.
Nia realised she hadn't even thought of the fact he should've been dead. "I don't know. Now answer my question." She demanded, uncaring that she was in his realm, the centre of his power. "Why?"
"You're a prize little Nia," he stated breaking her heart. "One that can only be lured. How else was I going to make you mine."
The cold assertion hallowed out her heart, made her feel worthless. As if she were nothing more than a valuable tool without any other use. Her eyes stung as she raised her chin and glared at the dark god.
"But it backfired." She took a shot.
His smile was one she'd always hated. A smile without substance, one that was more a threat than what it resembled. It was mocking, belittling and one he'd never aimed at her. "Do you really think you're that lovable?" He taunted.
Nia shrugged, holding on to every ounce of bravado she had. "Maybe I'm not." She agreed. "Life has done its best to show me just that, but I know your heart."
That mocking smile became even more sinister. It was as if it exuded the element of darkness just by being. "Do you now?"
Nia ignored the warning those words were. "I know who you truly are, I know the pain you have that breathes its fumes inside you with every second of your existence. Pain that nothing in all your millenia has ever quenched. I know that my presence gives you a reprieve from it." She said as gently as she could.
Had she thought he was dangerous before? The walls vibrated with his anger as he stood as still as a statue. His face was frozen in an expression of such agonized anger that she hated herself for being the cause. His lips were compressed to a point they were just a thin line.
The eyes that bored into her were pitiless, her heart skipped a beat in fright but she wasn't going to back down. It was hard to believe these same eyes had ever looked at her with love.
"Allow me to show you who I really am." He sneered.
Nia was a second too slow to block the attack. She barely managed to shield herself and still stand against the assault. In that first hit Nia realised the fighting skills she'd amassed were childish by comparison. At least on the magical front. She also knew Umbran wouldn't allow her the chance to have this fight be anything but.
She floundered, managing only to blunt the brunt of his attacks. Still, she persisted in her resistance. If the dark god managed to get a hold of her again she'd never escape. Not now that she bore Lex's mark and could never again believe Jake was her mate.
What had he been trying to gain? Was her trust that important to his plans?
Nia dug deep and held on as his power burned her skin, as his darkness tried to worm its way into her pores. Perversely she felt chilled to the bone and each passing moment felt like agony.
She wasn't ready for this! Too young to fight such an old god and would always be. But what else was there to do but resist? She couldn't leave Lex, not again, and her siblings needed her. The Almighty only knew how they'd had suffered in her absence.
So she held on. A scream tore out of her and tears found tracks down her cheeks. Her heart ached inside her as if the pressure of its beat was too much. Then his arms were around her.
Leaning back, she allowed herself their comfort even as she dispaired. Umbran became even more enraged, that emotion scalding the very air they breathed. "Lex," she sobbed with weariness. "How did you get here?"
"Take my strength to defeat him." Her mate ordered. "We can talk later."
Her instincts drove her to comply without rational thought, drawing upon his solid, immovable durability. She was too weary, too heart sore to trust her own mind let alone have a thought. All she had been doing was golding back the tide she knew would overcome her.
An alpha pair was made to withstand such a tide. Maybe no pair had ever been pitted against a god but together they held the strength of a pack. Aside from which they technically had two packs.Yet as she unleashed their combined power something in her arose to change its nature.
All in all she was left weaker than a newborn. It took all her energy just to breathe and she slumped in the arms of her mate. He held her up wih the force of his indomitable will. Nia could see that she'd practically drained him.
And Umbran merely staggered back a few steps before standing back up to his full sinister height. All his lines drawn into perfect deadliness. His face was a stone sculpture brought to life and his obsidian eyes agate hard.
"Love?" His voice grumbled like an atv on gravel. "He gives you his all to defeat me and you choose to blast me with love?"
Lex tensed his incredulity and Umbran laughed. "Oh my silly little niece," Umbran continued, amusement still lacing his voice. "After all I taught you and love is the weapon you chose? Your trite mortal entertainments have warped your reality." He shook his head. "Pity."
His anger swiftly replaced the amusement. "LOVE DOES NOT CONQUER ALL!" He decreed. "It is a pain, a rot that needs to be cut out," his anger died as swiftly as it had come. "An infection that lasts eons, weakening its host until nothing but darkness is left."
His haunted eyes met hers with something close to hatred, as if he wanted to force the hate he'd held for eons towards her. Nia saw the echo of his love for her in his eyes and the knot that had squeezed her heart at what she'd thought were their deaths eased.
"You're right," she agreed in a tired voice. "My love will stay with you forever. It wasn't an attack, but a gift."
His smile was twisted. "Life," he stated then looked at Lex over her shoulder. "And death and you chose to turn them into love." He laughed again, a bitter laugh. "Fitting, love after all is both."
The smile became mocking as he once again met Nia's confused gaze. "Did you not learn anything? Or were you too busy giving in to your juvenile desires to even bother to sense what powers he has? Honestly Nia I taught you better."
Annoyance swirled inside her and it came through in her tone. "What are you talking about?" She demanded, her back straightening at that.
"Your mate is now as dark as I am." He gloated and Nia braced herself against the fear that tried to rise inside her. "Can't you sense it?" He mocked once more. "The death that cloaks him? Think Nia, the only way he could be standing here with you is if he was a minion of death."
Nia pressed down on her fear, her terror. She felt the tension that thrummed through Lex, the fear he tried to block from their bond, just as she. The hand she had against his arm squeezed her reassurance despite the chaos of her emotions.
The dark god gave her another genuine smile. Yes, Umbran thrived on chaos. Nia though wasn't going to let him win.
"Not just any death god but the three." Umbran tossed, enjoying himself knowing they both were at his mercy.
Maybe it'd be best if they died together or maybe she was being selfish. 'I love you.' She declared to Lex.
'I have no regrets.' He answered the question her soul was too timid to ask.
"The trí dée dana."
Nia couldn't help the sharp draw of breath that infused her. Only the intimate knowledge of her mate through their now deeper bond enabled her to stand as the shockmof that revelation assaulted her.
"Yes," Umbran allowed. "Your mate is now the bearer of the Dagda's chalice." He stood up straighter, his smile turning sinister. "Let me repay you in kind." He stated.
Nia didn't even have time to brace herself, nor did Lex, before the dark god blasted them with more power than any mortal could ever hope to withstand. While Nia had come to terms with the fact that she wasn't a mortal, she was just eighteen. A baby of a god who had no hope of withstanding Umbran.
So she cast her mind to hold onto Lex's, met his own seeking mind. They willed all they were to each other in that melding of minds and rejoiced as they awaited their end.