Eternal Mates 7 - Taken by a Dragon (31 page)

Loke settled his fingers against her face and found the strength deep within him. He was willing to risk it in order to take this one last memory of her with him.

One he would cherish forever.

His lips would never touch another.

He had been made for her, and he would always stay true to her.

He dipped his head and kissed her, and it utterly destroyed him, ripping him to shreds and leaving him trembling, his lips shaking against hers as he fell apart.

He needed her in his arms and he needed to never let her go.

He reached for her and the elf prince caught his wrist, spun him away from her and darkness swallowed him.

The black valley of the dragons stretched below him, cold wind buffeting him as he stood on the mountainside with the elf at his side.

It seemed so cold and empty now.

“It was a courageous thing you did to let her go.” The elf prince released him and Loke shut down the part of him that wanted to beg the male to take him back, because his home wasn’t here. His home was wherever Anais was. The male looked at him and sighed. “But courage is not always the answer. You love her and she loves you.”

He didn’t want to hear that. He turned away from the black-haired male but the elf didn’t leave.

“She gave part of herself to heal you and bring you back in touch with nature through my connection to it. That was the reason you were able to live in that world without it killing you.” The male’s voice was low and quiet, but Loke felt as if he had shouted each word as they hit him and he realised the danger she had placed herself in for his sake. “She sacrificed a fragment of her life force to save you.”

Loke closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. He knew what the elf was telling him, and he knew that Anais had no clue about what the male had done. He didn’t think that the elf would have explained every little detail. The male had been meddling. He had known Anais’s feelings for him, and his for her, and he had known what would happen if she gave part of herself.

He had known it would bind them together.

No matter how far apart they were, Loke would always feel her. He pressed a hand to his bare chest and sensed a faint glimmer of hurt and her despair through the connection that linked him to her. She would always be a part of him, and he a part of her. They would never be apart.

They would never stop wanting each other.

The elf had cursed them to drift through their lives feeling as if part of them was missing.

Loke hung his head and his bare shoulders heaved as he sighed. “What would you have me do? A dragon mating is too dangerous. She would not survive it.”

“I know of dragons.” The prince came around in front of him on the ledge, his back to the dark scenery stretching around them. He suited this forbidding place more than his verdant kingdom, his black armour making him look as if he had been made to live in the darkness of this land. His fangs flashed between his lips as he spoke. “I know of the great strength of your species and how that part of you makes you dangerous… but I also know that you love her. Love is a powerful force in itself. Love makes you want to protect her and keep her safe, enough to sacrifice what you had. Perhaps love can give you the strength to find a way to hold back the most dangerous part of yourself.”

“Perhaps it could, but it would be a fool’s venture to even risk it.” Loke looked away from the prince, settling his gaze on the distant mountains in the direction of his cave.

A cave that would forever remind him of Anais.

“I am no fool, Elf, and I will not risk Anais like that.” He flicked a glance back at the male.

The prince blew out his breath, an exasperated edge to his handsome face and violet eyes.

“I will leave that for you to decide… but consider the alternative. The next five decades or so aching for the female you left behind, and the next five millennia filled with regret.” The prince weathered Loke’s glare and the warning growl that curled from his lips. “I would speak with you soon about dragons… one in particular we are hunting. A dragon who attacked my realm and stole something precious from me.”

Loke nodded, his heart pounding for a different reason as he sent a prayer to his gods that Taryn was safe.

“Think about what I said.” The elf disappeared before he could respond, leaving Loke high on the mountain.

Gods, he had never felt so alone.

His heart clung to the strained connection between him and Anais, and the need to see her again was already unbearable. He wasn’t sure how he was going to last the next fifty years without her, let alone the next five thousand.

But he had to do it.

It was the only way to protect her and stop him from killing her.

Or was it?

A
nais stood on the flat rooftop of the old elegant sandstone building that had been her home for almost a decade but no longer felt like it. She felt out of place among the hunters that called it home now, even when the heads of the organisation had given her leave to remain as part of it, at least until there had been a full investigation into what had happened the night Loke had escaped. Those in Archangel who had been her friends now looked at her with suspicious eyes—the same way they looked at Sable whenever her back was turned. It was as if they had betrayed Archangel and those hunters by falling in love with their fated mates, when that wasn’t the case at all.

Both she and Sable still burned with a desire to help the humans and non-humans who wanted to live in peace with each other.

In fact, her desire to help both sides in their fight against the immortals who meant them harm had grown stronger than ever.

Her gaze scanned the rooftops of London stretching around her, taking in the panorama of a thousand warm lights puncturing the inky darkness and throwing a glow up into the air.

She wanted to hold back the darkness just as those lights did.

She had taken to coming to the roof every night after she had finished her work. She liked the silence and welcomed the cool crisp air and being alone with her thoughts. Those thoughts always ran along the same lines.

It had been five days since he had left her in Underworld with her heart in pieces and that heart still ached whenever she thought about him. She knew that he had left her in order to protect her, but that didn’t mean it had hurt her any less. It didn’t make it easier for her to handle and she wasn’t sure she would ever overcome the pain he had caused her. It seemed to live like a constant thing within her, refusing to ease even in the slightest. She carried her pain wherever she went—into meetings, into battle, and onto this rooftop.

Sometimes, she swore the pain wasn’t hers, not entirely anyway.

Sometimes, she swore she could feel Loke’s presence.

Her eyes tracked a plane as it cut low across the clear sky, lights flashing as it headed straight towards London Heathrow.

Loke might have placed a barrier between them that was difficult for her to overcome, but that didn’t mean she was going to give up on him. She knew from Sable that when an immortal found their fated one that they were compelled to mate with them and seal their bond, but she wished it didn’t have to be that way if that was the only reason Loke had left her. The thought of never seeing him again hurt too much for her to bear.

She stared off into the distant darkness. London looked so bleak and cold to her now, a desolate place.

Because Loke was gone.

She hadn’t realised how much light and warmth he had brought into her life until he had teleported out of it.

“I thought I’d find you here.” Sable’s voice cut through the quiet hum of the night and Anais looked over her shoulder at the black-haired huntress. She blended into the darkness with her black t-shirt, leather trousers and knee-high boots. “Still moping?”

Anais scowled at her. “I’m not moping.”

“I bet he’s doing the same.” Sable halted beside her and looked off into the distance. “It’s typical of men from his world. They don’t have a bloody clue how strong Archangel huntresses are. Thorne was the same. He treated me as if I was some precious little princess who couldn’t fend for herself.”

“What did you do to change his mind?” Anais wanted to know, because she had seen Thorne when he had been like that, and she had also witnessed Thorne as a demon who showed Sable a hefty amount of respect and near-constantly praised her strength.

“I made it clear that I was a strong, independent woman who wasn’t afraid to unleash some whoop-ass on him if he dared to belittle me.” Sable placed her right hand on Anais’s shoulder and squeezed it as she smiled brightly. “We can find a way to make Loke pay for being so bloody annoyingly chivalrous. Don’t worry. You know where Loren dropped him?”

Anais sighed. “He’s probably gone back to his cave.”

Sable’s smile widened. “You know, he’s probably the first man I’ve met who can actually say he really has a man-cave.”

Anais almost smiled. She might have if in that moment she hadn’t experienced a sudden sensation of being empty, as if a piece of her was missing. The unsettling sensation eased and she frowned as she wondered what was wrong with her. Was it just the result of missing Loke and talking about him?

“Just say the word and Thorne will give you a lift. Contact me on my mobile if you need me.” Sable released her and began walking back towards the stairs.

“Where are you going?” She had thought Sable was done with her work for the night but the huntress seemed to have other plans.

Sable looked back at her, an edge of darkness in her golden eyes. “I have to talk with an angel about a problem I feel I’m going to have with that Echelon angel. I need more info about my bloodline, because I have the feeling he’s going to be one persistent bastard.”

Anais did manage to smile now. “Your problems make mine look like nothing.”

Sable shrugged. “Give me battles and enemies any day of the week. It’s love that really knows how to hit you hard and kick you when you’re already on your arse. The trick is to stand up, dust yourself off, and go out there and give it a swift kick in the balls until it falls into line.”

Anais frowned. “You are speaking metaphorically now… or am I meant to go and find Loke and kick him where it hurts again?”

“Again?” Sable grinned. “That’s my girl. Call when you’ve made up your mind… okay?”

“Okay.” Anais nodded. “I just need some time to get my head on straight and think about what I want.”

Sable’s expression softened as she backed towards the metal stairs. “It’s a big decision… but it could be worse. You could be half-angel, married to a demon king, trying to balance running a realm with protecting the world.”

Anais couldn’t stop herself from chuckling at that, even when she wasn’t laughing on the inside. She waved Sable away and went back to staring at the city, feeling the pressing weight of her options on her shoulders as she tried to decide what to do.

Loke couldn’t survive in her world and he couldn’t teleport as Thorne and Loren could, so he couldn’t transfer her between Hell and London. If she was going to be with him, she had to give up everything.

But it might just be a sacrifice she was willing to make to be with the man she had fallen in love with.

The distant sound of alarms sent a jolt of adrenaline burning through her and she turned on her heel and bolted towards the stairs that led down into the building. She took them two at a time and drew her sword as she reached the bottom and burst into a corridor on the top floor. Red lights flashed as the sirens screeched, hurting her ears.

She took a moment to get her bearings and then grabbed a man as he ran past. “What’s happening?”

“Some non-human just landed in the cafeteria.”

It was probably Thorne looking for Sable. He always caused a ruckus when he showed up unannounced in the cafeteria. But what if it wasn’t?

She followed the man as he sprinted down the corridor, leaving her behind as he caught up with a group of hunters. The hunter quarters were on this side of the building, meaning the way into the cafeteria from this direction would be blocked by the number of men and women trying to get into it to face the non-human.

Anais banked right at the first junction, breaking away from the group and following a long corridor that ran the length of the building and would bring her down on the other side of the cafeteria. Fewer hunters would hit it from the direction she had chosen, meaning she could see what had landed in it and could get in on the action if it wasn’t Thorne and was an attack.

She ran past the first set of stairs on her right and took the second down to the next floor, following it as it bent back on itself halfway, and banked right again, sprinting as fast as she could down the empty corridor. As predicted, everyone was coming at the cafeteria from the same direction. Score for her, since her patrol had been quiet. She might get to work off some tension tonight after all.

Anais leaped the wall around the next set of stairs and landed awkwardly on the steps below. She lost her grip on her sword as her bones ached from the hard landing, stumbled down the remaining steps and slammed straight into someone. Her cheeks blazed as she took them down with her in a heap and landed on top of them.

“Damn, I’m sorry.” She shoved herself up, her eyes leaping to the face of the man who had provided a nice cushion for her fall, and froze as she met stunning aquamarine eyes. “Loke?”

He grinned at her and she almost pinched herself to see whether she had knocked herself out as a result of her fall and was dreaming. It wasn’t possible.

She scrambled off him and he slowly got to his bare feet and grimaced as he stretched, making every honed muscle of his torso flex. She was definitely unconscious and dreaming. He looked far more delicious and gorgeous than she remembered. He stooped and picked up her sword, appraised it with an amused smile, and then held it out to her.

“What are you doing here?” She took the sword and the weight of it felt real enough.

Maybe she wasn’t dreaming.

Loke grabbed her wrist and began dragging her up the stairs she had fallen down, his long blue-leather-clad legs taking them two at a time and making her have to do the same to keep up with him.