Dark Possession - Aja James Page 0,80

I can. Sucks that he can command me with a thought though. Even the Tiger King couldn’t do that to Beasts of Air.

Ramses nodded his gratitude. He knew that Rhys’ choice to stay loyal to him was not an easy one. Unlike other Kinds, those Gifted with animal spirits were biologically compelled to obey their rulers. Even though Rhys was a Lesser Beast, the instinct to obey his alpha was no less resistible.

Suddenly, the eagle’s wings shot out from his sides, seemingly pulling them up when all he did was slow their downward momentum. Twenty feet from the ground, at the mouth of the cave, he flapped his giant wings, hovering like a helicopter while Ramses pulled Eveline into his arms just as Rhys’ talons released them.

Hurry, Rhys urged. He’s less than thirty miles away.

With that, the giant eagle flapped his wings to scale the skies again, letting out a shrill, ringing shriek.

On the ground, Ramses pulled Eveline to her feet and ran—

Into the dark, restless bowels of the volcano.

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

After about a mile and a half of full-speed sprinting, Eveline’s stitch in the side forced her to come to an abrupt stop.

“I can’t…” she wheezed, “have to…”

She put her hands on her knees to keep them locked, and hunched over to catch her breath.

She wasn’t a female made for strenuous exertions! She had no muscles on her anywhere. She was all soft and giggly and not in the good sort of way. Of all physical activities, running was perhaps her least favorite.

Ramses didn’t say anything as he stalked over to her, heaved her over his shoulder, and started running again. But from her position dangling halfway down his back, Eveline could see blood oozing from his wounds through his clothes; she could hear his labored breathing from both pain and exhaustion.

“Stop! Put me down! You’re hurt, you can’t keep this up. Please—”

And that was when Ramses involuntarily went down on one knee mid stride, allowing Eveline to scramble down from him.

He’d finally run out of strength.

“Where are you hurt? How can I help?”

She immediately put her hands on him, gently searching.

They were almost eye-level with her standing and him kneeling on one leg, he was that much bigger than her.

Her wounded warrior.

A wash of hot tears burned at the back of Eveline’s throat. She felt awful that he’s hurt. Irrationally, it made her want to bawl like a baby.

He pushed her hands away and gritted out, “Go.”

“Like hell!” she practically shouted in his face. The stubborn male was daft if he thought she was leaving him like this.

“Go,” he growled through clenched teeth.

“Don’t make me madder,” she warned him, getting madder anyway, “you’re not going to like the consequences.”

Weakly, he pushed at her again, only managing to make her stumble a small step back, showing just how far gone he was.

She came to stand before him again, her hands on his neck, where the wounds from eagle talons still oozed blood.

It had been many hours since the Challenge. His wounds should have started healing, or at least closed off the bleeding. Why was he so weak?

Heal him, Angel of fire. Heal him when he comes for you.

Take him!

And it came to her like a flash of light: Dark Ones needed blood. She was his Blood Contract. Ergo, he needed her blood to heal.

Forget the Angel of fire nonsense, Eveline thought. She didn’t know what that meant. But she did have what he needed coursing through her veins. Whereupon she thrust her wrist against his mouth hard enough to scrape the fine, tender skin against the edges of his teeth.

“Here,” she offered. “Time to feed. And don’t argue with me if you know what’s good for you. You know it’s the logical thing to do. My blood will make you stronger. Then, you can carry both of us out of here if you want. I’ll be happy to go along for the ride.”

For a brief moment, he stared into her eyes, poised on the precipice of some internal struggle.

And then, without warning, he struck, as fast as a viper. His fangs searing into her flesh, his hot mouth pulling roughly on her vein.

Eveline staggered and gasped from the force of his feeding, but he held her tightly to him with steel-like arms. A predator subduing his prey. His uncontrolled bloodlust giving him desperate strength.

This wasn’t like the gentle feedings she’d experienced with him before, most of the time only felt in her dreams. This was a ravenous, frantic,