Chapter 28

I stared transfixed at Vycandor's ruined chest. There was something oddly familiar about the marks. Something I couldn't quite put my finger on. I was still trying to figure it out when he sat up abruptly and reached out his arms as if he wanted to pull me into a deep embrace.

I had a serious problem with that.

When he moved just right, I could see all the way through him. He was lucky I didn't blow chunks right then and there. Thankfully, most of the hardcore bleeding had stopped. It made the raw flesh that hung in gaping flaps around the open wound look less disgusting somehow. But that didn't mean I wanted to hug him. Not even close.

What it did was make me want to gag. Big time.

There's a difference between knowing something bad is about to happen to someone you love, and staring at the carnage in the aftermath. I had a front row seat and I never even saw it coming. Not that there was much I could have done to stop it. I had no idea one of those creatures was going to sneak up behind him and rip out his heart. No idea at all.

I guess it's just a good thing we formed the bond when we did. Otherwise, he'd be toast.

Vycandor's current state of disgustingness may have totally grossed me out, but the reality of how close I'd come to losing him caused the newly formed bond between us to deepen dramatically. It was the most intimate thing I had ever felt. The warmth that flooded over me as a result was sinfully sensual. Like a full body caress on the inside that touched every nerve ending at once and made my toes curl naughtily.

This time I didn't have to wonder if Vycandor had felt it too. He threw back his head and inhaled sharply. The look of utter shock and disbelief I briefly glimpsed wasn't from pain exactly. I'd say it was more from intense, toe-curling pleasure the same as me.

That's when everything about him changed.

In a span of a few heartbeats, the skin on his chest began to knit itself back together. His wide, flat nose and sharp fangs that always made him look like a ravenous beast transformed into the unfathomably beautiful features of my Prince Charming, only without the use of glamour. His colossal body rippling with muscles morphed into the lean body of a man that was a lot less intimidating, but still somehow just as powerful. Even his skin was no longer that strange shade of blue.

Pale and luminescent with a hint of sparkle, now we were the exact same color. Wonderbread twins.

Vycandor stood up and reached out his hand. It only occurred to me just then that I was still sitting on the beach with my mouth hanging wide open and staring up at him in fascination. Now it was my turn to drool.

Our eyes met and locked together. I couldn't look away even if I wanted to. A familiar drowning sensation spread through me like pain medication, dulling the ache in my heart and taking with it my will to resist him. Fingers slowly intertwining with mine, he gently pulled me to my feet. He was so tall, and handsome as hell. Once bad, now he was oh so good.

Nothing in my wildest dreams could have prepared me for what came next.

The sensual current of warm energy already flowing between us continued to increase. It washed over me in wave after wave of pulsating energy that left me sizzling with the need to be even closer to him. Pulling me into a deep embrace, his cool hands scorched the bare skin on my back as his cherry red lips hovered possessively over my mouth.

Suddenly, saving the planet was the least of my concerns. Tangled up in a twisted web of my desire for him, hands lost in his long hair, he burned down the last remains of my reserve when he kissed me, making my knees weaken. With both arms wrapped firmly around my back to hold me up, he trailed icy-hot kisses along my neck that made my brain stop working.

Our lips met again, feverish with need. I lost the ability to keep my hands to myself, allowing my fingers to roam freely over the top half of his delicious naked body. I wanted him so badly it hurt. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew if one of us didn't put the breaks on, and soon, the everlasting bond that supposedly was intended to balance our powers, was about to ignite an eternal flame that had the ability to swallow us both.

And not in a good way.

If I'd learned anything at all from my bittersweet encounter with Thomas, it was that violent passion could have a violent end. And, this time, there was absolutely no way I was jumping into a lake of fire to cool off.

Not happening.

Mind racing with an obsessively dark need to be possessed by Vycandor, body almost completely consumed by frosty-blue flames that made my teeth chatter, I recalled Courtney's final words of warning before she disappeared. "Eventually time passes and you forget that you are marked. Marked forever with a reminder that you belong to another that has been stolen from you."

I gasped in surprise and broke free of the hold Vycandor had over me. The sizzling current of energy that burned dangerously between us choked off as completely as it had begun, although the threat of a repeat performance still remained. I started to think that maybe Thomas had been right after all. Vycandor and I were no longer two separate entities, but one flesh forged together by an unbreakable blood bond. A bond that was much, much darker than one formed between two angels in love. This one felt driven by 100% pure, undiluted lust. A lust that was unable to appease the secret yearning. Once my blood had been the only way to soothe the savage beast hiding inside him. Now it seemed like pure sexual tension was the driving force. Even a tiny spark of desire had enough power to ignite a raging fire.

I had to force myself to take deep, even breaths as I waited for my heart rate to gradually slow its frantic gallop. When the ability to think clearly returned, I squinted past the smoke at the charred remains of the Angels of War still burning in the lake of fire. Soon, too soon, there would be nothing left of them. No evidence that the attack had happened. No proof that the Angels of War had even been here in the first place.

Or maybe, just maybe that was part of the plan.

I turned back around to face Vycandor, heat rising in my cheeks. This time it definitely wasn't from passion. "What if this is a big mistake?"

Vycandor paused to study me for a moment, face expressionless. "Which part do you think is a mistake?"

I fixed him with a steady stare. "All of it."

He nodded gravely. "You think I'm the mistake."

My eyebrows shot up. "No...I mean, yes. But only because of what just happened. We have to set up some sort of physical boundaries. Otherwise, there's gonna be hell to pay if we can't keep our hands off each other long enough to stop the next attack."

Vycandor looked at me sharply, scanned my body from head to toe, then shook his head with obvious disapproval. "You're having regrets because of Thomas. You're still in love with him." He didn't make it a question.

I swallowed hard past a lump in my throat and didn't answer directly. This time I made a point of not looking into his eyes. I couldn't afford to drown all over again in their limitless depths. It was hard enough listening to his sultry voice laced with sadness, so I decided to stare at his chest instead. The same chest that not so long ago had a huge, gaping hole where his heart was supposed to be. I reached out a shaky hand to trace a circle around the once jagged edges of an angry wound that was now only a distant memory.

That's when it hit me.