Read Daric's Mate Online

Authors: J. S. Scott

Daric's Mate (9 page)

“No!” Hannah broke away from Liam’s hold, scrambling off his lap. “He can’t do this. The backlash will kill him.”

Desperate to stop Daric, she stumbled forward before Liam caught her by her jacket, his iron grip keeping her steady, preventing her from moving forward.

“You will not interfere. Daric made his orders clear and I will follow them. He has my brothers and Adare to help him. The
fallen
nearly killed you, nearly completely drained you of blood. Had I been in his place I would have done the same,” Liam told her sternly, his arms tightening around her as she resisted his hold. “Daric healed you and joined the fight. He’s my prince and I owe him my life. You will stay here until they have disposed of the
fallen
. I would be fighting myself if I had not been ordered to protect you.” Liam sighed heavily. “He needs to do this. Daric knows you’re in danger and he needs to eliminate the threat to his mate.”

Hannah watched helplessly, tears pouring down her face as she watched Daric kill without a single thought to the pain he would later experience, his expression wild and determined. “He’ll suffer, Liam. Terribly,” she sobbed, swiping tears impatiently from her face.

“It’s his choice. After seeing what the
fallen
had done to you, there was no stopping him. He won’t cease until the threat to you is gone. He’s a vampire protecting his mate. He won’t die, Hannah. But his pain will be great; I won’t lie to you,” Liam answered gravely.

“I did this to him. I’ll never forgive myself,” she choked out remorsefully.

“They would have found you. My brothers and I have been watching this group, wondering why they were gathering together to make their way to one particular small town in the middle of nowhere. We waited, hoping we would have the chance to eliminate them all at the same time. We didn’t know they were coming after the mate of our prince,” Liam muttered, obviously unhappy that he hadn’t known that Daric had found his mate.

Hannah listened to Liam, but her eyes never left Daric, flinching every time he took down another
fallen
, his total disregard for his own pain making her want to start sobbing all over again. Was there nothing he wouldn’t do for her, to protect her?

No. Nothing. Protect. Kill. Keep you safe.

She started in surprise as she heard Daric’s ferocious, guttural voice in her head. In her anxiety about his safety, she had forgotten that their minds were connected.

Please stop. I love you. I don’t want to see you suffer. Let the others finish this.
Hannah begged, sending her thoughts to him with her mind.

Daric didn’t answer; he just kept swinging, sometimes beheading the creatures before he struck a brutal blow to their heart.

Scared for Daric, Hannah’s breath came harshly, sawing in and in out of her lungs at a frantic pace that matched the hammering of her heart. “Please, Liam. There must be something we can do.” Something. Anything but sit here helplessly watching the man she loved seal his fate to suffer excruciating pain just to ensure her safety.

“It’s almost finished,” Liam answered stoically.

Hannah’s eyes finally left Daric to survey the surrounding area of the battle. It was dark, but the streetlights illuminated the street enough to show the horrors of the fight. The pavement held puddles of blood and ash,
fallen
in all stages of death. Some had already faded to dust, some were writhing on the streets and others were oozing black secretions onto the pavement.

Very few
fallen
were left standing.

Hannah searched for bodies of humans, citizens of the town that may have gotten caught in the crossfire, but there were none. “No one in Temple was hurt?” she questioned Liam softly.

“No humans. Their safety was a priority and they were sent back to their homes. We’ll have clean-up to do to erase their memories of this night but they’re all physically well. But my brothers, Adare and your mate look a little wasted,” Liam answered, his voice concerned.

Hannah struggled to move forward as the last
fallen
hit the pavement, Liam releasing his hold on her only after her mate had dispatched the creature.

Oh, God. How will Daric survive this? So many fallen, so much pain.

Tears streamed from her eyes, nearly blinding her as she ran to her mate, oblivious to everything except him, and her need to reach him.

Daric stepped out of the carnage to meet her, catching her fast-moving body around the waist, bringing her to an abrupt halt.

“You will never leave me like that again,” he stated with a feral grunt, his eyes boring into hers with a savage expression that took Hannah’s breath away.

Before she could formulate an answer, his mouth crashed down on hers, showing no mercy as he pulled her body against his heaving chest and sweat-soaked skin, demanding her surrender. The embrace was rough, a brand of ownership, but Hannah yielded, needing the raw possession, the brutal passion. His tongue swept through her mouth with a carnality that sent a chill down her spine, flooding her panties and making her body weak with need.

Daric yanked his mouth away and sank his fangs into the tender skin of her neck. Hannah moaned, her body flooding with erotic heat as he fed, lifting her hands to spear through his damp hair, cradling his head against her flesh. She could feel his hunger, and there was nothing she wanted more than to meet his need. “Yes,” she hissed as he drew deeply from her, sucking ravenously against her skin, taking what he wanted, what he needed. He needed blood after the battle, but Hannah knew that he also took from her to reassure himself that she belonged to him.

Daric sealed the punctures with a coarse sweep of his tongue, his face no less intense after he finished taking her blood. Yanking her to his side, he turned to all of the Hale brothers and Adare. Without a word, he closed his eyes, and Hannah could feel the power vibrating from his body as wounds healed and the streets cleared of nasty spots of debris and blood.

Hannah gaped, staring first at her mate and then at the five men in front of them, one dark blond, and the others all dark like Daric. In seconds, the scene went from one of post-battle carnage to the usual street in her small town of Temple, the men blending in with the darkness. Not a drop of blood or a single wound remained on any of them.

Yes, she had known that Daric was powerful, but actually seeing that power, feeling it radiate from his huge body was still a shock. And the results were nothing less than staggering.

Completely healed, all five men came forward, dropping to one knee in front of her.

“Your Highness.” All five spoke in unison, their voices reverent.

Hannah shook her head in confusion, trying to figure out why these powerful warriors were kneeling in front of her.

“Only Liam is a healer, but they are all pledging their loyalty to you. They are showing respect to their future Princess,” Daric answered aloud, his voice graveled.

“No. They are showing respect to their future Queen,” a loud, booming voice proclaimed from the shadows.

Hannah’s head whipped around, watching apprehensively as a very large man walked out of the darkness and into the glow of the streetlights, her shocked mind not certain if he was friend or foe.

“Father?” Daric’s fierce expression turned to one of bewilderment.

Hannah recognized him from Daric’s memories. His father was dark, frightening and so very much like Daric. Stunned, she watched as he approached Daric, hearing her mate’s confused thoughts as they joined with her own inside her head.

How? It’s not possible. He’s dead.

Daric’s father didn’t look at day over his mid-forties, even though Hannah knew he was many thousands of years old…and supposedly…dead. But here he stood, right in front of her eyes, dressed in a scarlet robe, his hands sparkling with jewels.

“It’s a trick. Some sort of illusion,” Daric rumbled, his face contorted with agony…, and yet, with hope.

His father approached him with a sad smile, laying a hand on Daric’s shoulder as he stood in front of him. “Know the truth, son. Feel it inside me. I was granted this brief visit because you are ready to take your place as King. You proclaimed it and it will be so. You were left without the power or knowledge of a King, and it must be passed on. Now. ”

Hannah stepped back as the members of The Vampire Coalition rose to their feet, their faces showing their confusion, bodies preparing to defend Daric if needed. Daric caught her hand, keeping her close to him.

“I have no desire to be King,” Daric said flatly, his eyes locking with his father’s stubbornly, knowing that the man who stood before him was the spirit of his parent.

“You proclaimed yourself King when you manifested the Carvillius Sword. You are King, Daric, as you were always meant to be,” his father answered.

“I was never meant to be King. The title was yours and then meant to be Nolan’s,” Daric answered harshly.

Daric’s father shot his son a look of remorse and closed his eyes. Hannah squeezed Daric’s hand, her heart breaking as she looked at the agonized and confused look in the eyes of her mate. Light emanated from his father’s bejeweled hand, illumination that seemed to be radiating from the older man’s palm and into Daric’s body. She felt her mate shudder, and moved closer to his body, plastering herself along his side, sending comforting thoughts into his mind. She wasn’t entirely sure exactly what was happening, but Daric had his father here, something she knew he needed if he was ever going to completely escape his past.

The glowing light faded and the ancient king slowly removed his hand from Daric’s shoulder. “Now you have the ancient knowledge and power to be King. I have merely been waiting for you to declare yourself, as you should have done a thousand years ago.”

“I was angry when I said that earlier. I don’t want to be ruler. I just want to watch over my people,” Daric said, agitated.

His father stopped, his hands behind his back, and stared at Daric. “What do you think a King does? You are doing what you were always meant to do. But you’ve been doing so without the full power to lead.”

“I was not meant to be King!” Daric exploded, his expression fierce.

His father sighed. “Actually, you were. I did wrong by you, Daric. I never loved you any less than I did Nolan, but I knew Nolan’s time on the earth was limited and I was losing my mind, so I threw all my energy into him, knowing he was going to leave me just as your mother did. I didn’t plan what happened. I regret that I hurt my people, and that I hurt you. I hope that you can forgive me some day.”

“I don’t understand. Nolan was your heir, the favored son,” Daric questioned without rancor.

“Nolan was never destined to be King. He was born without the marking of a Carvillius King, a mark that always bears the Carvillius Sword. I knew he would never live to be King. When you were born with the mark, I should have treated you equally, but the realization that I wouldn’t have Nolan with me for long made me focus all of my attention on him, because I wasn’t well enough to see anything except another loss. The very fact that I knew I would lose him sent me deeper over the edge of madness. It was never that I loved you less, Daric. I should have prepared you to be King.” The older man resumed pacing with a long sigh. “I should have passed the title to you after your mother died. I wasn’t capable of being King anymore.”

Hannah’s chest tightened as she watched the older man struggle with his guilt and remorse. She knew Daric’s mother had died soon after he was born, a victim of the
fallen.

“I thought you were grieving for Nolan so desperately that you let yourself go with him. I didn’t think I was valuable enough or worthy enough to make you want to stay.” Daric answered hoarsely.

The ancient king stopped, shaking his head as he looked at his son. “I was mad long before Nolan died, Daric. I couldn’t live without my mate. It doesn’t excuse how I behaved or how I treated you, but I hope someday you’ll forgive me. It wasn’t lack of love for either of my sons, it was the dementia I suffered because of losing my mate.”

“Why didn’t you tell me then?” Daric asked, his voice tormented.

“I was weak, pathetic, my mind broken. I didn’t want Nolan to know his fate before his time. It wasn’t fair to you, but I wasn’t thinking like a king. I was functioning on the level of a child.”

“Nolan had a right to know, and I should have been allowed to know that my brother was going to die,” Daric answered, his voice irritated.

“You did have the right to know and I don’t blame you for your anger,” his father responded immediately. “I just wasn’t strong enough or sane enough to deal with it properly. I’m sorry, son. I failed both you and my people.”

“Nolan?” Daric asked, his voice choked, unable to utter anything except his brother’s name.

His father smiled weakly. “He walks with me among the Ancients, with his true mate. Maya was not the female for him. His female awaited him beyond. He’s happy, Daric. His destiny wasn’t here on earth. He asked me to tell you that you will always have his love, even though you’re not together right now.”

Hannah watched Daric’s face soften, his precious memories of his brother rolling through his mind and into hers. “Tell him I feel the same,” Daric answered hoarsely. “And that I miss him.”

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