Tempt Me with Darkness (Doomsday Brethren 1)

Closing her eyes, she placed her hands on his chest. Before that touch, she’d begun to feel weak. But the power of the bond came to her rescue, infusing her with new vitality. That power circled back to him, providing a seemingly endless loop of emotional fuel.

Focusing, she gathered her healing thoughts. They swirled, warming and growing, gentle yet strong. Her chest sucked it up from the rest of her body, like a vacuum cleaner. It rolled together, begging for freedom. Then suddenly, it reached critical mass and rolled down her arms and into her fingertips. That same sizzle and burn that happened in the tunnel accompanied this exchange of energy. It hit Marrok. He jerked, bucked, groaned.

She sagged against him, spent.

Suddenly, Marrok clamped a huge hand around her wrist. Gasping, he jackknifed up and opened disconcertingly blue eyes, aiming a startled stare at her.

Olivia pushed him back to the bed, scanning his chest. The jagged cut bisecting him had completely healed. No gaping wound, no puckered flesh, no scar. Nothing.

A miracle!

“Oh my…You’re all right!” Olivia threw her arms around Marrok as joy suffused her. “I was so worried!”

He caught her in a fierce hug. “I felt your essence, our bond. You healed me.”

She smiled through her tears. He was whole and well. In that shining moment, she felt complete. “How is this possible?”

“Your power,” Bram supplied. “Once transitioned, you’ll be a great witch.”

“But I am no longer invincible,” Marrok cut in. “I feel pain again. I bleed. I no longer feel immortal.”

Olivia gasped. No longer immortal? No longer cursed?

Then he no longer needed her. The reality hit her like an avalanche.

“You’re certain?” Bram asked.

“Aye.”

“Marrok, Olivia is an amazing witch, but she only healed you, my friend. She couldn’t have ended your curse.”

“Nay.” The harsh syllable came from Marrok. “Olivia did not uncurse me. I felt it end sooner. ’Twas something Mathias performed, I think. What did he do to me?”

“You’re truly certain?” Bram sounded skeptical. “I’ve never heard of casting a spell to end a curse.” Bram looked to Duke and Ice for confirmation. “Do you know of any such spell?”

Caden said, “I have no idea. This bloody business of magic is not one I’m eager to fall into. Once my brother is well and Anka is found, I’ll be returning to Texas.”

“Transition is hard on your heels,” Bram pointed out.

Caden shrugged as if to say So what?

Duke answered Bram next. “I’ve never heard of magic stronger than the curse Morganna laid on Marrok. But my family is steeped more in the human than magical, so…”

Ice drew in a breath. “I’ve never heard of such magic, either.”

Bram cursed. “Shock would know, given the dark magic in his family.” He cut a glance over to Olivia. “You saw him last. Do you know where he went?”

She shook her head. Even if she did know, she wouldn’t ask someone who might be cozying up to Mathias.

“Was anyone able to retrieve the book?” Marrok asked.

Olivia moved around Bram, then opened a drawer in the dresser behind him. Snatching it up, she handed the book to Marrok. “Shock gave it to me before the tunnel went dark and he disappeared.”

“He put it right in your hands?” Bram asked.

“Yes.”

Every magical warrior’s jaw dropped.

Marrok’s hands dwarfed the little red volume. Olivia wondered how such a small thing could have caused one man so much agony. But she knew it was because her great-great-grandmother had wished it so.

He yanked the book open, thumbing through blank page after blank page. Until he stopped suddenly, his attention riveted on yet another blank page. Puzzled, she frowned.

“Does it say something?” Bram asked.

Slowly, Marrok nodded. “On the very page which Morganna once cursed me.”

“Well? Out with it!”

Marrok’s frown deepened. “‘For not loving me, I cursed you and your cruel black heart. To live alone forever, despondent, unsatisfied, apart. Only true love for another, given freely, would uncurse you. Your heart fully shared until you were one, not two. Now you truly love, as my diary can see. Your sacrifice and caring have not gone unnoticed. As such, I release thee.’”

The silence around the room was deafening, and Olivia stared at the gleaming hardwood floor beneath her feet.

He loved her?

“It was your sacrifice,” Bram said to Marrok. “Your willingness to surrender the book—and your only known means of ending your curse—in order to save Olivia.”

Slowly, Marrok nodded. “I threw the book at Mathias, and a wave overcame me. A cold sweat and dizziness I chalked up to nerves. It was the end of my torment.” He closed his eyes. “Now I can die.”

Olivia swallowed a sob that crushed her momentary happiness. After a millennium and a half of loneliness, anyone would seek peace. He’d said all along that he sought death. Now that he could achieve it, Marrok’s serenity was overpowering—and painful. She wanted to touch him, love him, beg him to live, but she wouldn’t cling to him now, no matter how badly she wanted to. If dying would finally make him happy, she could not stand in his way, either as a le Fay or a woman. His death would break their bond. Then, she’d figure out what to do with her life. She was strong; his love had made her that way. She would survive, thrive even.

For him.

“If you wish to die, yes,” Bram said quietly.

Olivia stared at Marrok, anguish tearing at her. He watched her, his face veiled.

No one had ever loved her. Until now. Until him. But his life was his choice, and she couldn’t beg him to stay.

But she’d always miss him.

Before she said good-bye to Marrok she had one last unhappy duty.

“Caden, I found Anka with Mathias.” She bit her lip. “She was naked, and…he fondled her, forced her to respond. She was protesting on the inside.”

“Dear God,” Ice muttered, looking pale and grim.

“Knowing she’s endured Terriforz will kill Lucan,” Caden breathed.

“If he survives the mate mourning,” Bram supplied. “With Mathias weakened, we need to direct our energy to finding Anka, now that we know who she’s with.”

Olivia shook her head. “Mathias waved a hand, and she disappeared. I don’t know if he sent her to be used by the rest of the Anarki or…” She touched a gentle hand to Caden’s shoulder. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help her.”

Caden’s jaw clenched, but he managed to shake his head. “You were in your own danger. Thank you for the information.”

She hoped it helped, but based on what she’d seen, she wasn’t sure if the couple could ever be the same.

“I hope you find her,” she murmured.

Bram nodded. “We’ll split into teams. Ice and Duke, see if you can return to the tunnel. Take Caden with you. Lucan mentioned that you’re good with a camera?”

At the younger MacTavish’s nod, Bram instructed, “Take one and shoot photos. Maybe there will be some clue there.”

“I’m going to track Shock down. He might be playing for Mathias’s team now, but I know he’d never want any harm to come to Anka. We’ll find her,” Bram promised.

“I’d like to help if I can,” Olivia offered.

“Nay,” Marrok barked.

“Too dangerous,” Bram said.

“I’m not the only one risking myself. You risked today, too.”

“Indeed,” Marrok said to Bram, looking puzzled. “I was wounded, and you raced into the battle to pull me from the thick of it.”

“Olivia is the hero. She provided the magic that allowed us to escape.”

“But you carried me at great risk to yourself.” He stuck out his hand. “Thank you.”

The handshake lasted moments, but seemed to cement a bond between them. Marrok turned his gaze to her, and Olivia’s heart raced triple time. His stare said nothing and everything. Her heart wrenched. He loved her.

But it wasn’t enough to hold him to a life that had given him such pain.

“After everything my family put you through, I’m glad I could help you be free. I know you have to…go. That you want to. I understand. I will always love you.” Olivia got the words out before she choked on tears. She placed a soft kiss on his mouth.

Before she could get out the door, the Doomsday Diary caught her eyes. She snatched up the book and put it in Bram’s hands. “This has caused Marrok enough misery. And I don’t want it. You and the Doomsday Brethren guard it. I know you will keep it safe.”

Bram accepted it with, not the smile she would have expected, but a solemn nod. “With our lives.”

“I’ll rest easier knowing that.” She sent him a sad smile, then took a last, lingering glance at Marrok, memorizing the strong angles of his beloved face before tears blurred the image. “Excuse me.”

The door closed behind her with a soft snick.

Marrok watched Olivia leave. Resignation hung off her. And pain. Damn, he couldn’t stand to see her hurt.

He sat up and swung his legs off the bed, conscious of four sets of eyes on him—the rest of the Doomsday Brethren. The men he had trained, fought beside, in whose hands he had put his life. After all that, they were something like friends. The first he’d had in over a millennium. He could leave them all, cast aside all the connections he’d made since Bram had interrupted his dream of Olivia and forced him to her little shop. He was now free to embrace death.

But he wanted nothing less.

Jumping off the bed, he stared at the book in Bram’s hands. “My mate is right. Keep the diary. I am ill-equipped to guard such a valuable relic against magical evil by myself. But together, you are.” His gaze touched on Duke, Caden, and Ice.

Then he strode to the door.

“Are you going to die now?” Bram asked.

Hand on the latch, he paused. “Nay.”

Bram released the breath he’d been holding. “Then we need you. We cannot properly trounce the Anarki without you. You fit well with us. Stay. Fight by our side. Be one of us.”

Marrok turned, struck nearly speechless by the show of not just camaraderie, but friendship. “It would be my honor and my preference, if that is what my mate wishes.”

Duke cleared his throat. “I hear quite well. Olivia just arranged a ride to London.”

The thought of Olivia gone was a stake in the heart. He wasn’t letting her go without a fight, without telling her that he no longer wanted death or solitude, just her.

“Rest today, men. Tomorrow, be prepared to train until you can barely stand upright. You will be sweating.”

Marrok shut the door on their collective groans with a smile.

He caught up with Olivia in the hall, very near where he’d once made love to her against the wall. The memory alone twisted his guts into knots. He could not reconcile having someone so wonderful and losing her so completely.

“Wait! Olivia…”

She whirled, and the tears glistening in her violet eyes reached right into his chest and ripped out his heart.

Marrok grabbed her shoulders and pulled her closer. “My love…”

She closed her eyes for a moment, then seemed to compose herself. “I’m glad you came to say good-bye. You’re finally able to seek peace. I’m happy for you. Since my family was responsible for your misery, I’m glad I was part of the remedy.” She cupped his cheek, her eyes overflowing with tears. “I will miss you every day of my life and I will never forget that you taught me to love. Or that I am loved.”

Olivia stood on tiptoe, eyes closed, and leaned in. Excitement jumped within him. Need pressed at him so hard, Marrok nearly imploded. Blood rushed through his body, engorging his cock. Take her, claim her. She needs you.

But he wanted her decision to stay to be of her own free will.

“You were not a mere part of the remedy, but the key. Always, I believed you were the necessary ingredient to break my curse. I was right…and wrong. The answer was not about forcing you to use your le Fay power to reverse the hex, but about letting go of my bitterness long enough to fall in love with you, le Fay or no. You taught me that I wanted to be uncursed, not because I wanted to die, but because I finally want to live. You have no reason to stay with me, I know. What does a modern twentysomething woman want with a man old enough to be dust? If you desire freedom, I will not fight if you wish to break our bond. But I will not end it. Ever. I want you as my love and my mate.”

Her breath caught in her throat, and fresh tears floated down her face. “You don’t want to die?”

“Not when I have so much to live for. Not when I have you to cherish.” He frowned. “I believe men still do this.” He dropped to one knee and took her hands in his. “Stay with me. Be my wife.”