Untamed
Untamed
THE CRYSTAL ISLAND SERIES
BOOK TWO
LILIAN T. JAMES
CRYSTAL PAGES PUBLISHING
Crystal Pages Publishing is an imprint of Aleron Books, LLC
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2022 Lilian T. James
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
First printing edition 2022
Cover Design : Murphy Rae
Editor : Allusion Publishing
Map Design : Chaim Holtjer
Interior Art : Etheric Tales & Edits
ISBN-13: 978-1-7378899-4-6
Contents
Map of Bhasura
Pronunciation Guide
Pronunciation Guide
Author’s Note
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Epilogue
Glossary
Acknowledgments
About the Author
More by Lilian T. James
To all the people who continue to burn brighter than a star, even when the clouds seem determined to hide your light.
Map of Bhasura
Pronunciation Guide
CHARACTERS
Alean Arenaris : Ay-lEEn Are-NAIR-is
Alyana Arenaris : AY-lee-AW-nah Are-NAIR-is
Dedryn Barilias : DEH-drin Bar-ILL-ee-us
Doren Panaeros : DOOR-in Pan-AY-rows
Eithan Matheris : EE-thin MATH-er-is
Elric Lesta : EL-rick LESS-tuh
Jaeros Barilias : JAY-rows Bar-ILL-ee-us
Jaren Barilias : JAIR-en Bar-ILL-ee-us
Onas Dornelin : OH-ness Door-NELL-in
Reniya Virnorin : Ren-EYE-uh VER-nor-in
Ryn Hayes : Rin HEY-s
Sulian Matheris : SUE-lee-en MATH-er-is
Taeral Virnorin : TAY-roll VER-nor-in
Trey Gibson : Tray GIB-son
Vaneara Arenaris : Van-EAR-uh Are-NAIR-is
Veralie Arenaris : VAIR-uh-lee Are-NAIR-is
Vesstan Arenaris : VESS-tin Are-NAIR-is
Wes Coleman : Wess COAL-man
Pronunciation Guide
LOCATIONS / OTHER
Aleron : AL-er-on
Bhasura : BAH-sue-da
Cruiris : Crew-EAR-is
Earith : EAR-ith
Magyki : Maj-ick-EYE
Matherin : MATH-er-in
Midpath : Mid-path
Naris : Nair-is
Ocridal : OH-cri-doll
Philyra : Fill-EYE-ruh
Rimemere : Rye-meh-mEEr
Slegon : SLEH-gun
Southterres : South-TAIR-is
Thyabathi : Tie-juh-BAW-tee
Vatica : Va-tick-uh
Author’s Note
This novel contains content that may be triggering to some readers, including:
Abuse of power, consensual biting, non-consensual biting, child abuse (mentioned, not on-page), mild gore, misogyny, a morally gray love interest, profanity, sexually explicit scenes, suicidal thoughts, torture (mentioned, not on-page), and violence.
Prologue
JAREN
His eyes shot open, and he launched up, barely avoiding cracking his forehead against the face that’d been looming over him just a second before.
“Veralie!”
He shifted his legs to stand, but two arms wrapped around his body, keeping him from rising to his feet. He struggled, blindly throwing his limbs out in an attempt to get free.
Veralie. Where was Veralie?
There was a grunt, and a low voice spoke above his head. “Calm down, Jaren. It’s just me.”
He froze, twisting his body within the confining hold to see his father’s face behind him. He dropped his gaze, finally pausing long enough to take in his surroundings.
He was sitting in Jaeros’s lap in the middle of the same hallway he and Veralie had just been attacked in.
Panic clawed up his throat, and he frantically glanced around for the two blond males, but they were nowhere in sight. Other than Jaeros, the only other individual around was his other father, Dedryn, who was currently leaning against the wall, watching him.
Nothing was amiss. If it weren’t for his throbbing head and the smell of blood in the air, he might’ve thought he’d imagined it all. Might’ve been able to convince himself that Veralie was still safely tucked in her bed.
But she wasn’t.
He shoved Jaeros’s arms again, squeezing his eyes shut against the last image he’d seen of her. Sprawled on the ground, her curls a wild mess around her face while blood dripped over her neck onto the floor.
She had to have been in pain, but even scared, her eyes had never strayed from his. Their gray depths the last thing he saw before a blinding pain echoed against his skull, and everything went black.
She’d been so brave, and now he needed to be brave for her.
“Let me up, Veralie’s in trouble! We were attacked, and they’ve probably—”
“Stop thrashing about, Jaren. We know. You have a wound to your head and need to calm down.”
The comment only made him thrash harder, digging his elbows into Jaeros’s torso, and he slammed his head back into his jaw.
His father cursed, and his hold slackened enough for Jaren to fling himself up and whip around to stare down at him.
“What is wrong with you?” he yelled, flicking his eyes between the two of them. “Did you not hear what I said? She was with me and was taken. Why are you just standing here? She needs help.”
His voice cracked on the last word, and he swallowed, wiping angrily at his eyes when neither responded. “I heard two males breaking into the house, so I snuck her out. We ran here to find you, but they followed us.”
His eyes stung and tears built in the corners despite how hard he was trying to hold them back. “I couldn’t protect her, and she got hurt. She’s probably so scared right now.”
His heart felt like it was about to pump right through his ribcage at the thought of what she must be going through. Was she calling out for him? Did she think he was hurt, or worse, that he’d abandoned her?
“Jaren.”
“We need to find her, right now.” What were they doing to her while his fathers stood around staring at him?
“Jaren,” Dedryn repeated.
He ignored him, fisting his hands at his sides. He hated that he didn’t have the ability to track her by scent yet. Hated that he’d have to rely on his fathers to do it.
He was supposed to be the one who protected her. “She’s injured, so if we hurry, her blood should still be fresh.”
“Jaren!” Dedryn snapped, gripping his shoulders and forcing him to look him in the eyes. “She’s gone, son.”
An answering snarl burst from his lips, and he shoved Dedryn’s hands off, half-tempted to risk his father’s wrath and spit a curse. “I know she is. I told you; two males took her.”
“They’re dead,” Dedryn said, anger dripping into his words.
Jaren froze at that, his brain taking a moment to catch up with his ears. He looked down at his father’s clothes and blinked at what he hadn’t noticed before.
Dedryn’s hair stuck up at odd angles, his usually pristine tunic wrinkled and hanging loose around his waist. There was even a wet stain on the front, as if he’d grabbed it and wiped sweat off his face at some point.
Jaren’s lungs expanded when he looked at Jaeros to see he didn’t look any better. He had circles under his eyes, and his long hair had come loose from its tie, bunched and ratted against his head.
He released a heavy breath, the weight that’d been pressed against his sternum easing up, and he nodded in understanding. “You killed them.”
“Yes.”
Thank the gods. It stung his pride that his fathers had to save her, but he swallowed the bitter feeling down. All that mattered was that she was safe.
“Is she with a healer?”
There was a pause, and his fathers glanced at each other before Dedryn cleared his throat and answered. “No.”
Jaren narrowed his eyes. His father was known at court for his quick, verbal assaults. It’s what King Vesstan respected the most about him. Dedryn never hesitated. So, why would he—
No.
He whipped his head toward Jaeros, denial already flooding his body, hoping and needing his affectionate father to smile and tell him everything was fine. But he didn’t.
Jaeros only gripped one of Jaren’s daggers to his chest and looked at him as a silent tear slid down his cheek and disappeared into his beard.
No. No, please, gods, no.
Dedryn opened his mouth, and Jaren’s limbs immediately began to shake.
“Don’t say it.”
“I need you to listen to me, son.”
“No. Don’t you dare say it.”
Dedryn placed his hands on his face, cupping his jaw in the gentlest touch he’d ever given him. “She’s gone, Jaren.”
His touch felt like a burn, and Jaren yanked out of his grasp, stepping back to glare at him. “I want to see her.”
Dedryn dropped his hands, his face hard as stone as he shook his head. “You can’t do that.”
“I want to see her, right now!”
“And I said, no,” Dedryn snapped. “You wouldn’t be able to handle it.”
Jaren hiccupped, another tear slipping out even as he dashed it away. “I don’t need your permission. I’ll find her, myself. I did it once, I can do it again.”
He turned on his heel, but Dedryn flung an arm out, snatching him by the elbow. “Gods damnit, Jaren, she’s dead.”
Faster than he’d ever moved before, he spun, throwing his fist out and landing a direct hit to the underside of his father’s jaw.
“You’re lying!” he yelled, cocking his arm back a second time. One hit wasn’t enough. He wanted to pummel him into the ground for even daring to utter the word. His chest rumbled, but before he could make contact again, his arms were yanked down and pinned to his sides.
He bucked, finally barking out the curse he was never supposed to say, but Jaeros just tapped into his strength, turning to steel around his body.
“She’s dead, son,” he whispered, his voice thick and broken. “And I’m so sorry we have to tell you that.” He choked at the end, gripping Jaren harder and burying his face into the back of his hair.
No. They didn’t know what they were talking about. He’d know if she was dead. He’d know.
Closing his eyes, he felt for their bond. It wasn’t mature enough for him to understand her different scents or feel her emotions yet, but it’d still been there. It’d still existed.
He’d been able to feel it even years ago when he’d been Veralie’s age. Feeling her was like breathing—a natural instinct woven within his soul.
He squeezed his eyes tighter and searched harder, seeking that familiar warmth he’d grown accustomed to. The comfort of her that he’d taken for granted.
But it wasn’t there.
Nausea threatened, and his breathing grew ragged. The cold, hollow feeling had him lurching forward, and he gasped, uncaring that Jaeros had released him.
His aitanta. His friend. The female his fathers had teased he’d fall in love with one day. The story on his daggers, the purpose of his training. All of it was supposed to be for her.
And he’d failed.
His legs buckled, and he dropped to the floor, his knees audibly slamming into the stone. The pain was nothing compared to what he felt inside. It was a poison, taking over his soul and rotting it from the inside out.
Someone called his name, but he could no longer hear them past the hatred spewing in his mind. He curled in on himself, digging his nails into his head, and heaved. Again and again.
She was gone.
She was gone, and it was all his fault.
Agony like he’d never known burned through him, spearing out like spikes along his skin as hot tears streamed down his face. He pressed both hands against his chest, trying in vain to keep his heart from shattering as he threw his head back and screamed.
Chapter 1
VERA
Fifteen Years Later
It was impossible to concentrate past the firm ass hovering over her face. The perfectly rounded shape was all she could see, and the temptation to reach out and pinch it was overwhelming. Especially when its owner chose that exact moment to open his giant, annoying mouth.
“Zhumo dzind mbi.”
Asshole. She supposed she could always bite it really fucking hard too. She wasn’t even sure what pissed her off more, being called a stupid fool, or the fact that even insults sounded sexy in his baritone voice.
“Call me stupid again, and I—”
He suddenly twisted, flinging his leg over her head and missing her nose by a hair. The weight that’d been baring down on her ribs lifted for one blessed moment before he dropped back down, grinding her spine into the salt-slicked wood beneath her.
Locking her jaw to hold in her grunt of pain, she exhaled through clenched teeth and glared at the scruffy, scar-flecked face that’d replaced the firm rear. How could someone so attractive be so gods damn frustrating?
As if reading her mind, he smirked down at her, unperturbed. “And you’ll do what? You’ve yet to succeed at even pinning me once today. I don’t think you quite have it in you, Nlem snadzend.”
His tongue curled around the syllables of her title, taunting her, and drawing pinpricks of blood along her pride. But it was the suffocating male arrogance pulsing near her heart that was the last straw.
Tapping into, what she hoped, was a minuscule amount of power, she snapped her head up toward his nose. He reared back to avoid the hit, shifting his weight and removing the bulk of it from her torso.
Using the split second she had before he recovered, she flung her arms into the space between them and shoved against his chest. His breath whooshed out, and she couldn’t fight her own smirk when his eyes flashed just before he went flying backward.
She didn’t see him hit the deck from her prostrate position, but the thunk of his body against the wood was just as satisfying. Maybe it’d knock some manners into him.
Rolling to her least-battered side, she pushed to her feet, mentally preparing for the new bruises that were sure to come from his retaliation. By the time she’d raised her arms, he’d done the same, dropping into a defensive stance.
She took a deep breath, ignoring the stab of pain in her side. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear she had the tip of a rib imbedded in her left lung from the last kick he’d landed.
Jaren’s eyes immediately latched on to her torso, and he lowered his arms, the muscles of his jaw flexing. “Resorting to cheating when you’re angry is a character flaw you should reflect on during meditation today.”
“Fuck you,” she seethed. She’d barely cheated, and in a real fight, anything was game anyway.
His eyes shot up to hers, flaring in time with the pulse in her chest. “You’d have to actually pin me in order to do that, little star.”
Her face heated, and her gaze dropped to his body like her own was physically unable to resist imagining pinning him and doing just that.
Droplets of sweat covered his tanned chest and arms, glistening in the unrelenting sun and drawing attention to each ripple of muscle. His usually sharp jaw was hidden under facial hair that’d grown during their days at sea, and his emerald eyes seared into her under his dark, drawn brows.