Free Black Gate: Timewalker Chronicles, Book 4 by Michele Callahan Page A

the fuck?
    “Who are you? And why are you so warm?”
    “Hold still. The Gate nearly killed you. You need to rest.” Mistake to hold her and try to think, but he found he couldn’t put her down, the warmth spreading in his body too delectable to resist. He strode to the recliner and settled them both into it.
    “I need to get my men out of there.”
    He rocked them back and forth a bit, hid a grin when she gave in and allowed her head to rest against his shoulder. “Why where you in the dark? Why did you open the Gate? It’s dangerous.”
    “It’s alive.” Her voice whispered the words across his neck and his hair rose to stand on end. She knew its voice. She’d truly felt it. Spoken to it. By the gods, this was even worse than he’d first thought. And she was either lying outright, or omitting select facts. She had to be.
    “All intelligent life is not human. It was arrogant and stupid to play with such power when you knew nothing about it.”
    “I’m not arrogant.”
    “Is that what you believe?” He raised an eyebrow and lifted his hand to trail a light caress down her cheek. “The Gate is ancient and powerful. You can’t win against it, not even to save your men.”
    “I survived, didn’t I? I’ll get them back.” Katherine’s determination was admirable.
    “I can’t let you go back in there. The Gate will consume you. This is one battle you will lose.” Teagh resisted the urge to sigh. Yes, the little female was going to hate him.
    “I’m not arrogant, I just don’t lose.”
    The inferno in his bones fed heat to his blood, power he could literally track as it filled him up and spread with each beat of his heart. “I wonder how you will cope with losing to me.”
    Her answer was to glare at him. Obviously, she entertained thoughts of besting him, of outmaneuvering him. Manipulating him to her own desired ends. He met her gaze, unblinking, until she looked away. She shivered and he knew that it wasn’t because she was cold.
    Katherine had tasted the darkness. The woman should be able to feel his power, just as he felt hers flowing in pulsing waves, cresting and retreating from his own. The forces she now contained would tear her weak human body to pieces in a matter of hours were he to abandon her to her fate. But she would not die fast enough to prevent the dark from finding her, seducing her. Feasting on her body and soul.
    And if she was strong enough to survive? To truly command the dark? Honestly, he wasn’t sure. Perhaps then the Triscani would have their first true Queen, born of darkness. Hell on Earth would become more than a human expression.
    And the beautiful woman he held cradled in his lap would be a monster without equal.
    His monster. With her at his side, he could even conquer the Immortals on Itara, eliminate the Triads on Earth, trap the Triscani in their own world. End the war forever by annihilating both sides. He’d rule three worlds.
    The cost? One small mortal soul.
    Katherine’s soul.
    She shoved at his arms. “This is bullshit. Why am I sitting on your lap purring like a damn cat? I have to get my team out of there. Now.”
    “I promise you, your men will keep.” She tensed, shoved again, harder, and looked up into his face, searching. For what? Truth? Sincerity? He had no use for lies. No need for them.
    “How can you know that? Are you the one who captured them, like you did with the Rear Admiral?”
    “No. He needed to be taught a lesson. I simply ensured that will happen.” He shifted, less than eager to tell her the truth now. “You are the reason the dark claimed your men. Just you.”
    “No.” She shook her head. “No. No way.”
    “Think about it, Katherine.” He touched her lower lip with the tip of his finger, starving for the softness of her skin against his flesh. That kiss had been a huge mistake. “The darkness called to you. It knew you. Knew what you wanted.” He traced her upper lip now and she held her breath. “The darkness knows