He had to do something or they would hurt her too. The thought of them doing such a thing ripped a feral growl from him, had cold fire blazing through him.
Thanatos eased back so he could see her face.
Bellowed.
“Wake!”
Chapter 10
Calindria woke with a start, her skin chilled by the sweat that slicked it, her heart racing as she leaped from a nightmare that had seemed so real, to one that definitely was real. Thanatos loomed over her, his enormous body covering her, his face close to hers. His lips pulled taut, a sheen of sweat on his brow as he grimaced, and his eyes were bright blue fire.
What was he doing?
A thought of what he might be intending to do to her exploded in her mind, shaking her.
Fear shot through her and she panicked, shoved her palms to his shoulders and pushed against him, and stopped abruptly when he grunted and blood slid over his left shoulder, a single rivulet of it that beaded by his collarbone and dripped onto her chest, soaking into her top. She stared at the blood as it trickled and spilled, her eyes widening in horror.
Her gaze leaped to his.
Pain shone in his eyes, strain written in every tight line of his face.
“What happened?” she breathed shakily, the fear that had subsided a little quick to rise again as she thought of an answer to that question. They were being attacked. Some terrible beast was attacking them and had hurt Thanatos.
He gritted, “You happened.”
Her eyes widened further. She had happened? She didn’t understand.
“Push back the forest, Calindria,” he snarled and loosed another pained grunt. “It is still trying to kill me.”
Forest? Her eyes darted to her right and she gasped as rather than the log she had pulled into the clearing, she saw twisted sharp brambles and thorns over a foot long right beside her. Her stomach turned, acid bubbling in it as she looked above her, beyond Thanatos, and saw more of those long thick needles crowding the air there, and realised with horror that when she had pushed Thanatos, thinking he meant to do something awful to her, she had shoved him onto one of those sharp spikes.
“Oh gods,” she whispered, panic reigniting in her. “I’m doing this?”
He nodded, his face grim as his left shoulder dropped lower and the rivulet of blood that trailed over it ran faster, splashing onto her chest.
She sucked in a breath as her gaze leaped around. Her brow furrowed as she looked at the spiky black forest that enclosed them on all sides and was getting closer and closer. How was she meant to stop it? The panic mounting inside her reached a crescendo, blurred her thoughts and hurled them together, had her unable to think of a solution.
“Just breathe, Calindria,” Thanatos murmured, and she wasn’t sure how he could be so calm and gentle with her when she was hurting him.
In danger of killing him.
The thought of that happening had the panic suddenly flowing out of her on one breath and calm rushing in to clear her mind on the next.
She closed her eyes, shutting out the sight of the forest and Thanatos to stop it from panicking her again, and breathed, seeking calm and focus. This was her power, and that meant she could control it, just as Thanatos believed.
She reached out with her senses and gasped as she felt the forest, as she felt every branch and thorn as if they were part of her. She focused on the area above them, breathing steadily, mentally commanding it to withdraw. Nothing happened. Thanatos grunted again and her face screwed up, the fear returning as she felt the splash of his blood onto her skin.
Calindria shut it down.
Because something dawned on her.
The forest was responding to her fear.
She curled her fingers into fists, clenched and released them, and blew out her breath. Sought calm. She wasn’t afraid. She wasn’t. Nothing here would hurt her. It still didn’t work, so she tried something else. She opened her eyes and stared into Thanatos’s, lost herself in that bewitching blue fire that shimmered in his irises as he gazed down at her. She focused on how close he was to her, the weight of his body against hers not crushing, or frightening, but… almost delicious.
His face softened as he caged her, as she continued to stare deep into his eyes, as she relaxed beneath him, grateful for his protection and his sacrifice.
She was safe here.
Safe in his arms, held close to him like this.
She didn’t fear this male, this god of death. She lifted her hands, squeezing them between their bodies, and raised them. Thanatos frowned and darted his head to his left, glared at her hands as she brought them to his face. When she cupped his cheeks, he looked at her, his eyes widening.
There wasn’t only pain in them now, or surprise. There was the barest trace of fear, and she didn’t think it was fear for her or for himself. It was fear of her.
A desire to protect him rose within her as she saw that fear and relief bloomed sweetly as the twisted branches above him began to recede. He grimaced, his mouth pulling taut as the thorn slid from his shoulder, and then grunted as more were tugged from his body by the trees as they began to withdraw, slowly at first. They gained speed as that relief grew stronger in her, as the thought that Thanatos was safe now filled her mind and calmed her heart.
Something around her waist slid over her skin and she gasped, looked between their bodies and watched the thick black root unwinding from around her. When she looked back up, the trees had receded completely, were almost back to how they had been. The branches remained longer though, sharp with spikes and heavy with prickly cones of some kind, as if she had done more than manipulate them.
She had brought them back to life and they were ripe with seed now.
Thanatos pushed himself up, grimacing as he eased off her. She scooted out from beneath him, deeply aware of his blood staining her chest, and feeling wretched as he inspected the cut on his shoulder and she noticed it wasn’t the only one he had.
He sank onto his backside and held his shoulder as he looked at her. “I do not suppose you inherited your mother’s power to heal too?”
She felt terrible as she shook her head.
He huffed and stood, another grimace rolling across his handsome face as he peered down at his black leathers, looking at the back of his leg. The guilt churning her stomach only worsened as he hobbled towards the forest, flexing his wings, and she noticed there were holes in them too.
His beautiful wings.
She dropped her gaze to the ground, shame eating at her.
“It is not the first time I have been stabbed. I will heal.” He eased back down onto the ground and she glanced at his wings as he stretched and arranged them. He noticed and looked at them. “They will heal too. Faster than the rest of me.”
That didn’t give her comfort.
She tried not to let everything weigh on her and pull her down into the mire of her thoughts, but it was difficult. Not only had she killed someone by touching them—killed two people in fact—but she had hurt Thanatos with another power she possessed. Was there nothing good about her at all? Was hurting people all she could do?
“Come now.” He gentled his tone again, his deep baritone rolling over her like a calming wave, but this time it didn’t lift her spirits. He sighed softly. “Has anything like this happened before when you have been asleep?”
She was quick to shake her head. Like her power to kill, she hadn’t known she had this dark gift.