Dark Possession - Aja James Page 0,70

shaking so hard the stone cliffs fractured. Boulders broke free and crashed to the ground, and the center of the mountain cracked open, revealing the hot, fiery lava that roiled beneath.

The eagle staggered overhead, flapping his wings to avoid the raining rocks and debris, the geysers of lava that shot through the cracks.

All at once, the mountain erupted, shooting a burst of flames and clumps of hot lava into the sky.

The eagle shrieked as two molten missiles lanced through his wings, sending him crashing into the ground below.

The Elemental stood over the fallen Beast with swirling obsidian eyes, the force of his Gift barely contained within his frame.

“You will not have her. Ashlu is mine,” he rumbled with the boom of earth-shaking thunder.

The eagle looked up at him with pained, glittering eyes. His wings broken and in tatters. His body burned and gaping with open wounds.

You will regret this, youngling.

“I will not,” the Elemental stated. “And neither will you, because you’ll be dead.”

As he spoke, the ground beneath the eagle opened in a jagged fissure, and the hot bubbling lava beneath hissed as it burned through his feathers and skin.

The Elemental walked away from the defeated Challenger, through the smoke and ashes that clouded the entire surface of the volcano.

He walked all the way back to the Dark fortress where his queen awaited to be Claimed. With blind love burning bright in his heart, he did not regret his victory that day.

But the Eagle King had been right.

In the millennia that followed, he did regret. He regretted bitterly.

For he’d betrayed his own Kind that day. The Elementals who continued to hide in fear of the Dark empire’s unforgiving rule.

In more ways than one, his victory was his greatest triumph and his deepest shame.

*** *** *** ***

Coming back to the present, Ramses shook his head to clear it, even as he blocked another attack, though just barely, from his Challenger.

He remembered.

He narrowed his gaze on the warrior who unleashed a renewed round of fists and feet upon him.

Underneath the tattoos, the black hair and black eyes notwithstanding, Ramses saw the features of the Eagle King. Not exactly the same, but similar enough to make him pause.

But how could it be?!

He’d left the Beast to die on the Fire Mountain. He’d seen the other male disappear into the surging lava.

Hadn’t he?

Distracted by his thoughts, regret making him pull his punches, Ramses fell back as the other male pummeled him, landing devastating blows to his ribs, stomach and face. He willed himself to fight back, willed his body to turn to stone to at least provide some defense against the ruthless onslaught, but his limbs wouldn’t listen, his powers waning.

All at once, he was knocked off his feet into the freezing water.

Immediately, the other male threw the entire weight of his body on top of Ramses, holding him down beneath the currents, his hard fists around Ramses’ neck, cutting off all air, close to breaking the bones of his neck.

His eyes open beneath the water, Ramses saw the looming shadow of his opponent, the Challenger’s face a mask of grim determination. There was no emotion. There would be no mercy. The only thing that glittered in those fathomless black eyes was vengeance.

Ramses opened his mouth and swallowed a lungful of water. With his immortal healing powers, it would take a long time to drown him this way, but given the steel vise of the other male’s hands, his neck would probably break first.

He put his own hands around the fighter’s wrists to pry him loose, but the other male had the advantage being on top, and shifted so that his shins trapped Ramses’ upper arms beneath his weight as he knelt on top of Ramses’ chest.

Ramses contorted his lower body to buck the male off, but his movements were too weak, his strength and Gift seeping out with the lack of oxygen.

The male’s hands suddenly transformed into claws, his talons digging into Ramses’ unprotected flesh. He was not only going to break Ramses’ neck, he was going to rip his head right off his body!

But then, out of nowhere, a flaming meteor struck the Challenger across his back, knocking him off of Ramses.

With an incensed howl, the other male sprang quickly to his feet, while Ramses staggered upright as well, his hands holding the sides of his neck, trying to stem the blood gushing from his puncture wounds.

More flaming objects rained down upon the Challenger, with an accuracy that had him dodging in