One Hundred and Six Dianna

My eyes shot open, my breath catching in my throat. I could tell by how clear my vision was in the dark that my eyes glowed crimson. The dream receded, just a fleeting memory I couldn’t remember or catch. I finally focused on the Ig’Morruthen, and a chill ran up my spine when I heard what the beast was screaming.

Danger!

Danger!

Danger !

I went predator still, assessing the room. Firelight flickered against the walls, and the curtains on the large bay window danced lightly with the cool breeze. Rain, a slow drizzle, emptied from the dark gray clouds. Lightning streaked across the sky, followed by a low rumble of thunder.

Heat blanketed my back, and a slow, even breath tickled my shoulder. Samkiel’s head rested against mine as he slept, his arms holding me in a vise-like grip, protecting me even in his sleep. I tried to calm my raging heart, wondering what startled me from my sleep. But I didn’t see anyone in our room, not even a single book, candle, or tablecloth out of place, so why had I awakened as if someone was watching us from the end of the bed? Why was my beast going crazy with distress?

I sighed and relaxed back against Samkiel, deciding it was just the remnants of the forgotten dream. I wrapped his arm tighter around me, but I felt it again as soon as I closed my eyes.

My instincts screamed at me to wake, urging me to leave. An insistent thread pulled tight, wanting me to follow it.

I forced my eyes closed a fraction tighter, denying the pull, telling myself it was nothing, just the echo of the nightmare. Kaden was dead. He wasn’t here, and Isaiah was locked deep beneath the castle.

Still, a tug pulled at me, beckoning me, and I wondered if something was wrong in the castle. I carefully lifted Samkiel’s arm and slid beneath it as quietly as I could. He sucked in a breath before groaning and turning over onto his back, his arm now draped across his bare chest, the other above his head. Gods, he was beautiful. I forced myself to turn away and slipped off the bed, reaching for the robe on the nearby armchair. I slipped it on, taking one last look to make sure he was still asleep.

Samkiel’s chest rose and fell evenly, the sheets tangled around his thighs now. He was deep asleep in all his naked glory, but besides my normal appreciation of the godly body he was blessed with, my eyes caught on his midsection. Where that deep, bruised scar had slashed across his abdomen, there was now nothing but smooth, healed skin. I had felt it earlier when he had stripped first himself and then me before taking me against the wall. I had run my hand over it to make sure it was real.

A part of me still hoped that it had all been just another nightmare. Looking at the absence of the wound, I could almost believe he hadn’t been ripped from me, but the gaping ache where my soul had once been proved the truth. The only thing that eased the throb of the loss was being close to him.

I peered out the open window, still unsure how he had taken all his power back. I had asked Reggie for clarification once we returned, and Samkiel dragged Isaiah downstairs. Reggie said the sheer force of will and drive to protect me had been the catalyst. He said he willed them back into his body faster than he had time to process, and he still wasn’t sure what he had done was possible. Gabby loved me, but I had never been loved like Samkiel loved me. No one had cared for or protected me as he did. I still was unsure I was even worth it after everything I had put him through. But my cold, dead, aching heart swelled, thinking of such love and how, no matter what, it was mine.

I left his massive sleeping form and headed out the door, going quietly so as not to disturb him. As soon as I stepped into the hall, that damn tug happened again. My body jerked to a stop, and I glanced down. Whatever was pulling at me wanted me to go down. My blood ran cold.

Had something happened to Logan, Neverra, or Cameron? Had Isaiah escaped? Was he on a rampage downstairs, and we hadn’t heard it? I didn’t stop to think as I ran down the hall, taking the steps three at a time. Logan was down there, as were Neverra and Cameron. Even with Cameron’s increased strength, I knew Isaiah would rip him apart with his bare hands.

I ran down the hall, doorways blurring. I turned a corner and sped past the open door to Samkiel’s study before skidding to a halt. The hem of my robe tangled around my thighs as I backed up, my eyes narrowing. My heart thudded in my chest, alarm bells screaming in my head.

Danger!

Danger!

Danger!

The large masculine shadow detached from the darkness, moving stealthily within the room. I growled low in my throat, my hands lighting with bright orange flames. My foot made contact with the door in a vicious kick, and it flew wide open, parts of it splintering as it thudded against the far wall with a crack. I knew those shoulders, knew what kind of powerful beast lay beneath them. I threw enough fire into him to send him sailing out of my home. One fireball, then another, sailed through the air and right through him, burning the wall behind him.

What the fuck? The fire died in my hands as he turned around, a peculiar look on his face as he looked between me and the hole with its still-burning edges in the wall.

“Your vicious, feral nature makes up for your small frame.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, and my mouth suddenly went dry. Ice skittered through my veins because I wasn’t looking into Kaden’s eyes. I was looking into a god’s.

“Unir.”

“You know me?”

I couldn’t even nod my head, let alone respond. He was the shadow I had seen or sensed in every corner since we arrived here, the one I saw in the market. There, but not. It was never Kaden watching me, hunting me.

“How?” It was a whisper of pure and utter disbelief.

He looked every bit like the God King I had seen in Samkiel’s memories, right down to the thick silk robes that draped battle-worn silver and gold armor. Armored boots came to a point at the knee, with intricate patterns carved along every bit of silver. He smiled, just the corner of his lips lifting, a gesture so familiar to the man asleep upstairs that my heart faltered.

“The how is not important.” Even his voice demanded power, and the Ig’Morruthen beneath my skin snarled in response. “The why should be more concerning to you.”

“Okay, then.” I mustered every ounce of false bravado. “Why?”

Unir smiled, stepping through the table before halting in front of me. He towered over me, far taller than any of his sons, and my head reared back. He stared at the ring on my finger before meeting my eyes again.

“The dead have much to discuss with you, daughter-in-law.”

His hands engulfed my skull as darkness filled my mind, and I screamed.