He was going to take her away. Back to their realm. Back to their queen.
Jordana’s wild, terrified gaze shot to Nathan.
No. He couldn’t lose her.
“Goddamn it, no!” Nathan shouted.
He reached for her other hand and held on tight. He couldn’t bear to let her go.
And at that same moment, in no time at all, he felt a heat begin to surge through Jordana’s fingers. The energy was immense, awesome.
Not of this world.
“Release me,” she growled at the soldier who captured her. The power within her expanded, growing swiftly. In a blinding flash, it erupted out of her as she roared the command again. “Release me!”
The Atlantean guard flew off her as if torn away by an unseen force. Nathan too was staggered by the sudden blast of light and power that surged through Jordana’s hands.
He let go, only because he noticed that the dark-haired male had dropped his sword in that moment. Nathan grabbed for it, at the same time Zael hurled himself at the soldier, tackling the guard while his reflexes were dazed from Jordana’s defensive strike.
But now the second of the Atlantean soldiers had come back from his injuries.
Although Nathan had broken the male’s neck, the copper-haired immortal shook it off with a menacing chuckle as he got to his feet. He swiveled his head, popping his spinal column back into alignment.
Nathan vaulted up from the floor, pivoting around at the same time. The dark-haired immortal’s sword held in his hands, he swung it around as the second guard charged at him.
Steel met flesh and cleaved in deep, sweeping the immortal’s head off in one sure, lethal blow.
Behind him, Zael’s sword was also biting into muscle and bone, the head of the other Atlantean hitting the floor with a wet, final thud.
“Nathan!” Jordana flew across the carnage toward him.
Her heart lodged in her throat, panic and relief swamping her at the same time, Jordana raced to Nathan’s side and threw her arms around him.
He was wounded and bleeding, but still standing. He was alive.
He had saved her—he’d likely saved Zael as well—and nothing could have kept Jordana from embracing Nathan and burying her face in the living, breathing warmth of him.
“Oh, God,” she murmured against his chest. She clung to him, needing to feel his body against hers, whole and hale. “I’ve never been so scared, Nathan. When that soldier ran his blade through you, I thought he’d killed you—”
“Shh,” he soothed, his palm stroking her back as he dropped a kiss on top of her bent head. He held her close, his pulse drumming beneath her ear. So strong and steady, so comforting. “I’ll heal soon enough. I’ve survived worse than this before.”
He lifted her chin, both his fingers and his gaze tender on her. “It would’ve taken a hell of a lot more than that blade to stop me. I wasn’t about to let them have you. I don’t give a f**k if the Atlantean queen and her entire army think they have any claim on you. They’ll all have to come through me first.”
He lowered his head and kissed her. Not a tentative kiss but a fierce, possessive one.
Jordana melted into it, savoring the taste of him, the feel of him. The unearthly energy that had poured through her veins during the battle stirred again, but with a different power, as Nathan’s mouth moved over hers in a deep, passionate joining.
Would she always respond so easily to his touch, his kiss?
Or now that her Atlantean genetics were awakening, becoming part of her, would she crave him with an even greater need?
She hoped she’d have the chance to find that out.
She hoped she’d have an entire future ahead of her with Nathan to find that out.
But right now, his injury needed tending, and across the room, Zael was standing over the corpses of the two Atlantean warriors.
Nathan broke contact on a low moan. As he raised his head to regard Zael, he brought Jordana under his arm in a protective stance. “Will more soldiers come?”
Zael gave a sober nod. “Once it’s determined these men have failed and are lost to her, Selene will send out more. She’ll keep sending out more. The queen does not accept defeat easily. She forgives even less.” Zael’s gaze slid to Jordana. “The best place to elude her is in the colony.”
“Or through a blood bond,” Jordana pointed out.
“If you remain in the mortal world, that’s all that would protect you. But only if Selene’s legion doesn’t find you first.”
“And she has me.” Nathan said it like a vow: firm, unwavering.
“True,” Zael acknowledged with a level glance, but his grave tone stopped short of encouragement. “Unfortunately, nothing can be as certain as the asylum the colony can provide. It’s hidden, known only by a small few outside the realm. I am one of only a handful trusted with its location, aside from the exiles who live there in seclusion under the colony’s protection.”
“What kind of protection?” Nathan asked.
Zael indicated the silvery crystal he wore on the leather thong at his wrist. “This is crafted from a larger source of energy belonging to our people. The colony has one, and so does Selene. At one time, very long ago, the realm had five of these crystals, much larger than this small, harvested piece. The crystals are sacred to the Atlantean people. They shielded us from the world outside and kept the realm safe from enemies who would want to destroy us.”
Beside Jordana, Nathan studied Zael’s bracelet with narrowed scrutiny. “That material’s nothing found on this Earth.”