Harper

I felt the tingles spreading through my body as Drake lifted me in his arms. I tried to push away and stand but he held on tighter.

“Hush now,” Brighid whispered as she appeared at the side of us. “You are going to be rather drained for the next couple of hours. The brand will be hard on your physical body.” I didn’t like it but I made myself relax in Drake’s arms.

I felt a draft and looked up to see the doors of the sanctuary opening. The first person I saw was Elias’ worried face as he tried to push his way in.

“What the bloody hell,” he shouted as Marcus held him back while two guards blocked the door. “I mean it Valcoin, get your hands off my mate before I rip them off.” Drake just chuckled and nodded for the guards to move so he could get through the door. I felt the change in the sparks as he handed me over to Elias. It was like Elias was hot while Drake was cold, or something like that. But both were home. I wrapped my arms around Elias’ neck and burrowed myself into him, taking in his scent of sea salt and mint. Elias held me tight, and I felt as he sniffed at my hair.

“She will need to rest awhile,” Brighid said, “but in an hour or two she will be back to normal.”

“She better be,” Elias grunted and pulled me in tighter. I snuggled as close as I could get and felt my eyelids getting heavy. The feel of his body, and of our bond washed over and around me and I struggled to focus long enough on the conversation that was happening. Elias was angry, that was evident in his voice and the occasional growl, and I heard the odd word like screaming and pain. I knew I was losing the battle to stay awake so allowed myself to fall into a deep, heavy sleep, knowing that Elias would protect me if needed.

***

I woke up in bed alone. Well, on the bed. My eyes snapped open as I looked around the darkened room. I felt rested, if only a little sore. Like I had done a hard workout in warrior training. I sat up and tried to make out the room in the dark. From what I could see the room was familiar enough. I could see the heavy wooden four-poster frame of the bed and the large chest of drawers off to the side. But something felt different. Something felt off.

I got up from the bed, intending to look for Elias, when I noticed I was wearing some sort of silk lingerie nightdress type thing. It was red and short and rather revealing in the front, but flowed to the ground in the back. More importantly, it wasn’t something that I owned. I was frowning down at my body when I heard a creak from across the room. My eyes snapped up to where the sound came from.

“Elias?” I whispered and then mentally rolled my eyes. Why whisper? If it was Elias then good, if not, it’s not like they wouldn’t still hear me.

I noticed movement in the dark and strained to make out who the dark shape was. It was like the darkness just got darker and took its own shape as it seeped out from the corner. My stomach dropped slightly and Maia growled at the forming shape. I slowly backed away from the shape until I hit the wall. But the shape kept on coming. Slowly I started to make out features. At first I could tell it was tall and shaped masculine. Then his face cleared, and I saw the high cheekbones and prominent nose. The person, or whatever it was, smiled as he came to a stop a step in front of me. He reached out but his hand and arm was still enveloped in some sort of black smoke, and from this close I could see his eyes were the deep black abyss that reminded me of Elias’ demon.

“Erm… hi?” I asked. Was this somehow Elias’ demon in the flesh? Or the smoke or whatever. The smoke hand touched my cheek, and I gasped and flinched away. I couldn’t even begin to explain the feeling that I got. The closest being cold, dark and empty. But even that didn’t come close to what it felt like. Maybe soul sucking.

His smile widened, and he moved closer to me.

“What the f**k,” I exclaimed. “Back away, before I make you.” A soft chuckle escaped his lips and his smile grew further.

“Oh my dear sweet Harper,” he cooed, “I would be amused to see you try.” I growled and pushed at his body. Or at least I tried to. My hands went straight through him and I hissed as I felt the tendrils of darkness wrap around my arms, pulling me closer. They felt hot like molten and I could feel my skin beginning to burn at their touch.

“f**k!” I tried to pull away but the harder I pulled the tighter they seemed to get.

“Don’t fight it?” he said as the black shadow travelled up my arms and around my body. “If you stop struggling, then it will stop hurting.” He leaned in close enough that I could feel his breath on my skin.

“Who are you?” I asked, trying to keep the tremor from my voice. I was also wondering where the hell Elias was.

“You know exactly who I am,” he said. I felt him lean in and take a deep breath. I shuddered as I felt him so close. But I also felt something like a pull. “You smell even more enticing than I dreamed. Your beautiful strawberry scent.” He sighed against me and I felt the tendrils of darkness squeeze tighter against my skin.

“Tell me sweet angel,” he whispered against my ear, “Tell me who I am.” I shook my head. I did not want to go there. I didn’t want to confirm what I knew. Why the pull of his being felt so strong and so familiar.

“You’re not Elias’ demon, are you?” I asked, and he chuckled.

“Oh, no my dear sweetness. I am much more than a foot soldier in this ever frustrating war.” He chuckled to himself, like he had said something funny. “Although, now there is a light at the end of the tunnel. A beautiful angelic light.” He buried his head into the crook of my neck and I shivered against the feel of him. “And I can’t wait to taste your sweetness for myself.”

“Well, you can f**k right off,” I growled. “You aren’t tasting anything from me.” I tried to pull away again, and this time he let me go. I pushed through him, like actually through his smoke body, and rushed towards the door. I had no idea how this bastard had got into my room, but I knew I needed to find Elias or Drake or something.This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

I almost reached the door when the smoke materialised in front of me, blocking my way out. His face appeared and just as I was about to push through him again the smoke tendrils wrapped around my arms again and spun me. My back hit the door hard, and I cried out as pain laced through my body and my head..

“f**k,” I exclaimed and tried to pull away on instinct.

“Oh, my dear sweet angel, don’t be disillusioned into thinking that you have any sort of choice in this matter,” he whispered to me. “You were born to be my queen. To stand by my side as I take the throne and the world. You are mine, and mine alone, to do what I want with.” I knew it was a bad idea before the laughter left my mouth, but my b***h came out at his self-professed ownership.

“Like f**k I am,” I laughed, “I don’t care who you are but I am not owned by anyone at all, be it my mate or the king of bloody hell himself. Which I might add, you are not.” I saw his face twist in anger and he growled. The grip on my arms tightened, and he pushed himself against my body. The heat from his own semi corporeal form was almost unbearable, and I did everything I could not to wince or cry out at the pain.

I felt heat as tendrils wrapped around my ankles and moved up my legs slowly.

“Let’s make one thing clear my disobedient little angel,” he growled, “That mate of yours is nothing but a conduit to me. He only serves the purpose to present you to me. And he will willingly give me what I am entitled to.” The tendrils were past my knee and instead of the scorching heat, I could feel something else. Something like excitement and they moved closer to my centre. I shook my head in confusion. No, I didn’t like this. This didn’t feel pleasurable. I tried to tell myself this, but the connection, the pull, was there and I could feel something powerful on the edge of it all. Something enticing.

“That bond that you think you have with your pathetic mate is not with his wolf or with the pathetic and weak human.” He continued to speak against my skin, but I was struggling to listen as the edge of power was reaching through to me. “It is the demon b***d in him that holds the mate bond, the b***d of the demon in him, and the demon that runs directly to me.” A tendril tipped up my chin, so I was staring directly into his eyes.

“The bond you have, sweet angel, is with me.”

I felt pulled into his eyes, as the black gave way to what looked like a terrain of fire and stone. I could almost hear the screams of others who were trapped in the cells that lined a single pathway. Before I knew it, I was moving down the path, the length of the lingerie flowing around my legs. I reached the centre of the path. There were many paths that seemed to come from this one point. In the centre of this point was a huge pedestal with what looked like a thousand steps. At the very top of the steps was a lone chair, a throne, made of the bones of the fallen. It glowed white in the darkness, like a beacon.

“You see angel,” the demon horseman at my back whispered, “Even now, you feel drawn to me and my rightful place.” I glanced at him before looking back at the beauty above me.

He was half right about what he said. I did feel drawn, but not him. And the throne wasn’t his rightful place. It was mine.