Chapter 2

Shane felt the berserker rage filling him as he glimpsed the dark forms trying to surround Ariel within the storm-drenched forest. Jonar’s men had moved swiftly the moment she had ordered the bodyguards from her property. Alyx, the Dragon Prime joining the group of psychic bodyguards, had been less than amused when he related her insistence that the protective force leave the grounds. A less than logical female, he had called her, his voice vibrating with irritation. It wasn’t a lack of logic, Shane knew, but the bitter realization of the lives that had been lost in the attempt to keep her safe as she lay unconscious.

Damned stubborn woman, he thought, as he cut down the first of Jonar’s men that met him, Derek and Joshua as they raced through the storm to catch up with Ariel. She was determined to do it all herself or die trying. And though he suspected the crystal would aid her in fighting to survive, he knew that she could not do it alone. The thought of her attempting to do so filled his heart with dread. He could feel his commander, Devlin, monitoring the battle through Chantel, his wife, and the crystal she wore. The same crystal that allowed Shane to reach out to Ariel as they followed her enemies into the forest.

Not that she would answer him. Just as she had fired the men who were to watch her, so had she ignored his demands to give her location as he fought to reach her in the storm. Had it not been for Chantel and Devlin’s connection to him, then she would have already fallen beneath the swords Jonar’s men wielded.

As he rounded a bend in the path that led to Ariel, three of Jonar’s warriors blocked his way. Shane stopped, a smile curving his lips as lightning lit up the scene for long seconds. Great, jagged flashes, one after the other, illuminated the area in stark relief. He lifted the sword before him, his wrist twisting as he twirled it dangerously. The assassins before him tensed their bodies, eyes narrowed, concentration lining their faces as they braced for his attack.

“Well, let’s hope the three of you can give a better fight than the last ones,” he called out over the din of the storm. “Come on, boys, don’t be shy. Let’s play…”

He cut through them within minutes, for once glad they had not given a better fight. As the killing wounds to the chest began to disintegrate the evil of their bodies, Shane raced on through the storm. Ariel waited up ahead, and he wanted nothing more to delay the moment that he would hold her in his arms again. He wanted her out of harm’s way. Away from the assassins sent to kill her and steal the power that had caused nature to unleash its fury onto the land around them.

Chantel and Devlin would lead him to her when he was finished sending Jonar’s men to hell. Then he would ensure that she never placed her life in such jeopardy again. He tracked her through the raging rains, his eyes narrowed as he made his way through the darkened foothills. He didn’t have the gifts the other warriors had. His eyesight wasn’t exceptionally strong in dim light; he couldn’t use the power of his mind to do great feats of magic. His gifts were in his strength, in the power of his arm, the stamina of his body, and the often cold detachment he used while in battle. Not that he was using it now. The flames of rage fueled him as his sword cleared the path before him of both the enemy and the thickening brush.

She was terrified; he had felt that overwhelming emotion the closer he came to her and the crystal that reached out to him. She was running on adrenaline and fear alone, her strength steadily giving out as the weakness of her body overcame her will to flee. The crystal would not sustain her strength with him near. It would know that he would protect her, that his sword and his life would cover hers and forever draw from her the danger that surrounded her.

He paused as he left the battlefield behind, confident that Derek and Joshua were cleaning out the garbage Jonar had littered the mountain with. He could smell her now. He paused to draw in the rich scent of the woman he had waited centuries for. Her scent was that of the storm mixed with a hint of spring. Soft, inviting, with an edge of danger.

He bared his teeth in a smile. His Ariel had been temperamental, filled with passions that she kept tightly restrained, and a thirst for vengeance against Jonar that he knew would only be quenched at his death. The raping of the child she had been in that first life, as her fragile mother lay dying beside her, had stripped her of any illusion of gentleness.

It had been a time of darkness, of wars and evil and Jonar had swept across the land like a tidal wave of malevolence, catching Ariel in his path. Her powers had drawn him, though at the time he hadn’t known why. Unaware that what lay dormant inside her would one day be his destruction. Instead of killing her, he had taken a part of her she could never steal back. He had taken not just her virginity, but her innocence and her belief in herself as well.

Yet, she had been strong. When he had come to her in those dark times, sent by the Guardians to make a pact with Galen, she had been all woman. A woman and a warrioress intent on fighting at his side and spilling the blood of their enemy. A woman whose heart had opened to him, even if she had hid from the power she controlled. Chantel had warned him to expect differences when he met with her this time. Her soul would be the same, but her life experiences different. She had feared it would cause him to be less than understanding of the woman she had become this time. He shook his head, flinging back his soaked hair as he drew closer. He could sense her weariness, feel her fear swirling in the winds around him. As he drew nearer, the sensation of her presence became stronger, until he stopped completely, staring around the darkness with narrowed eyes as he tried to catch a glimpse of her through the storm raging around him.

“Ariel, I’m here to help you,” he called out, knowing she was near, watching him. She was silent, the scent of her fear thick in the whipping winds. There was no answer. He turned, knowing she was within feet of him yet unable to glimpse her in the gathering darkness. But he could feel the crystal drawing him. The link he had established with the enchanted stone was strong within his soul now, in a way it had never been centuries before.

He concentrated on that bond, with everything inside his soul he called out to it, reached for it and fought for a glimmer of knowledge as to where she would be. As he made a slow circle, the faint glint of light through the foliage caught his eye. He almost missed it, would have if the lightning hadn’t stilled for that brief amount of time. The wink of violet light was all he needed.

Shane restrained his smile of triumph as he began to move through the night encased trees, knowing her eyesight would be no better than his right now. The sheer darkness surrounding them was as thick as her tension, his satisfaction. He lifted his arm and returned his sword to the leather sheath strapped to his back to better free his hands when he moved upon her. He wanted them free, wanted to experience the warmth of her body with all his senses once he had her in his arms. She was trying to circle him. She held her sword in her hand, raised in preparation to defend herself. She knew he was close; she just wasn’t certain where he was. Steeling himself for what he knew he had to do, he moved in on her. Before she could protest or fight, his arms circled hers, clamping them to her sides as she screamed out in terror and struggled to fight against his greater strength.

“Dammit woman, I’m not here to hurt you,” he yelled out over the sudden renewed violence of the storm. “Would you settle down!”

Lightning was striking the ground all around them, sizzling with electricity, protesting the terror raging through her. The winds were barreling through the hills, trees cracking beneath the force as thunder shook the air repeatedly and rain poured down in almost blinding sheets.

His hand gripped hers, breaking the hold she had on her sword as she tried to swing it at his legs. He was terrified that in her rage and fear she would do more harm to herself than to him.

She fought him like a madwoman, her curses blistering the air as lightning struck ever closer to their struggling forms. Shane gritted his teeth, containing his snarl of outrage that his wife, his wife, would fight him in such a manner. Her curses were those she had reserved for only her worse enemies in that first lifetime, never for him. He didn’t care if she may not remember that life, she should feel it, sense it, feel him.

“Damn you woman, settle down now!” he cursed heatedly as her foot, small as it was, nearly tripped him as she fought him.

At this point, his bond with the crystal would do him no good. She was locked in a kill or be killed state of mind, and the power of her crystal was reacting to this hysterical terror. It was doing as they had never believed it would. Drawing from the Earth Crystal’s powers and fueling the natural forces of her sisters that came to her aid. Independent of one another, yet reaching out to each other, the crystals were reacting to Ariel’s hysteria and her fears. Her sisters were coming to her aid.