Zendedari jerked himself awake ten minutes later, then cursed at the clumsiness that sent pain spiraling through his body. He felt hunger, weakness, a swaying dizziness. Black eyes leapt to Caitlin. She was still peering at a notebook, pencil clenched in her teeth. Her skin was so pale, it was nearly translucent. The intense emotions in the room were hers, yet she seemed not to notice. Her mind fought to merge with his; he could feel it tuning itself, vibrating with need, but she was disciplined, strong, and very determined. She brought her thoughts back under control, focusing on her work.He felt a curious melting in the region of his heart. Ice-cold hatred and fury, the need for revenge, for retribution, had been the force driving him to live. He had not thought himself capable of tenderness, yet she managed to bring it out of him. He was first and always a predator. She was light to his darkness, radiating beauty as if it shone through her skin from her soul. She had introduced ge
Caitlin seemed so light, so small and fragile. Zendedari loved the line of her throat, the satin perfection of her skin, her mouth. With one nail he opened a small wound in his heavy muscles, pressed her to him, and felt heat coil unexpectedly deep within him. His gut clenched, and desire shot through him, piercing and sweet. The feel of her mouth on him was erotic. Their minds were merged as he held her. It was an intimacy he was unfamiliar with. In the midst of pain and darkness, hatred and rage, she had brought light, compassion, and courage. Where there was bleak despair and a weak, empty shell, she had given him the beginnings of strength and power, blossoming hope. Where there was endless pain, an eternity of hell, she was bringing beauty, joy, and an intense pleasure he almost could not comprehend.He did not want to end their joining, but he needed every drop of blood to try to heal his broken body and mend his fractured mind. He didn't dare allow her to take too much from hi
Olivera's POV:Sitting down on the hard floor of this filthy prison cell, I couldn't help but ask myself again and again, how long they were planning to leave us here. Don't tell me it was for all through the night, because I fear that I might be dead before tomorrow. The stench of the room could kill a community. It's been more than thirty minutes since I and Jeremy last spoke. After I had told him that I had gotten the work of a maidservant, he had elapsed in silence. I wonder what he was thinking though. I had been expecting more questions.What in the name of whatever was that stupid Alpha thinking of putting Jeremy and I in this Godforsaken hellhole? I asked myself for the umpteenth, gnashing my teeth as a whiff of the barbaric stench had passed by my nostrils. I could literally taste it. It was that terrible.And why did nobody see the guy I was with? Was he a ghost?I shuddered at the thought, not believing I had been conversing with a dead being. Would Jeremy even believe me
I and Jeremy followed the guards meekly down the dimly lit hallways which had cracks on its walls, and perhaps shit stains on them. I wouldn't be surprised if animals were really reared here. Or had insane people been kept here? I wondered, walking closely behind Jeremy, and in front of the tallest guard who had spoken to us some minutes ago. A few times, I was tempted to look behind me to behold the man for another time, but for some reason, I couldn't, perhaps for fear of being struck down from behind. Who knows if the Alpha had told them to kill us off as we walked through the hallways. For all I know, they could have been lying when they had mentioned that the Alpha had wanted to see us.Jeremy was lucky though. Lucky in the sense that I was right at his back, so he had the freedom to turn at will and check up on me, stealing a nervous glance rather. I wouldn't be surprised if the same thought was running through our minds. We might be out of the dark smelling prison room, but not
Raul's POV:After I had dismissed my people from the execution ground, it had taken all my willpower not to walk up to that stupid slave and shake her sporadically until she coughed out blood. How dare she defy me? I had thought, watching in anger as my guards had taken her and her so-called best friend out of my sight. Immediately, I turned around, walking in the direction of my palace, knowing that my three friends, or rather subordinates, were right behind me, with a lot of questions running through their minds. I knew they must be wondering why i had let the audacious slave go. But o also knew that Nick, the pack's doctor, was very relieved. I pray it lasts for him though. Because any other outright disobedience and neglect from the slave, i wouldn't trust myself not to cut her head off, not minding that she is my mate."Keep fooling yourself." My wolf taunted me. If anything that grated on my nerves the more. Since i had come to know the slave girl, my emotions have always been i
"What cure?" She repeated again. "Nick…" She called, then as if remembering that she wasn't supposed to call his name considering her poor status. She repeated the statement. This time, in the right way. "Doctor, what are they saying? What cure are they talking about?" Should she even be talking? I thought, glaring at her. Seeing this, she bit her lips which had tasted so fucking nice, and faced down, burrowing into her best friend's side the more. Scared now, are we? I thought, before stepping back to the big chair which I had been sitting on some minutes ago."It's absolutely nothing, Olivera. Just a lame theory." Nick replied, and she furrowed her eyebrows. What right had she to even do that? The audacity of a mere commoner! If she was perhaps in Jeremy's position, it would have been better. At least she had royal blood in her. But here, she wasn't among the Alpha's, the beta's nor the gamma's. She was just, well according to her, she was just her. I couldn't deal with that. All o
The journey back to the palace was filled to the brim with silence. There was no words spoken, no interaction at all that had gone on between Olivera and Raul. They had just walked like two different people into the palace grounds, and into the palace thereafter. Azeera turned out to be waiting for Raul right in the large sitting room. Immediately she sighted Raul, she stood up from the lush sofa she had been sitting on, and walked stylishly to Raul who didn't budge or push away when she encircled his neck with her arms and drop a peck on his lips, not minding that they weren't alone, not minding that Olivera just stood there watching the whole scene play out.Raul, capitalizing on this, decided to play along with the script which he had written some minutes ago. Since he wasn't going to be sleeping with Olivera, he might as well sleep with Azeera. And where is the fun in that if not rubbing it all over Olivera's face. When Azeera broke away from the short kiss on her lips, he drew he
Author's POV:Caitlin opened the door to the night and inhaled deeply. The amount of information that flooded her was shocking. Creatures were roaming the forest, and she knew the precise location of each animal, from a pack of wolves several miles away to three mice scurrying in the bushes close by. She could hear water roaring in cascading falls and bubbling softly over rocks. The wind played through the trees, the underbrush, and the very leaves on the ground. The stars glittered overhead like millions of jewels radiating prisms of colors.Entranced, Caitlin stepped from the cottage, leaving the door open to allow the odor of blood and sweat and pain to seep outside, to be replaced with clean, fresh air. She could hear the sap running like blood in the trees. Every plant had a special scent, a vivid color. It was as if she had been reborn into a whole new world. She lifted her face to the stars, drawing air into her lungs, relaxing for the first time in forty-eight hours.An owl sl
When they clambered to the surface of the ground, away from the lab, the girls breathed in relief, freed from the nightmares they had been subjected to for years. It was then that Olivera took a blood bag from the polythene in her arms, feeling better in the night hair, and took a sip, wary of how the blood would taste. She had heard Jacob talking about the heady feeling, worse if it came from an ancient. But it still hadn’t prepared her for the kick of pleasure. She found herself moaning as she greedily drank the blood, until she drained the bag. When she was done, she looked at the others. They were staring at her with unexplainable emotions on their faces. At least it wasn’t disgust. Olivera thought with a shrug, before handing the bag over to Miriam. When her friend hesitated in collecting it, she piqued an eyebrow. “You want to do the dismantling of the structure, without alerting the soldiers?” Miriam huffed, and took the bag. As much as she had great magic, she didn’t want
The first thing Olivera saw when she stepped into the hole where the passageway stopped was the largeness of the space, which could contain more than five thousand people. Then she saw the tubes, the boiling liquids and the lab rats. A modern lab.‘Where are you?’ She asked the girl, needing to get out of here; it was making her nauseous. Ten more minutes here, and she might be vomiting all over the place. And there was the fact that she didn’t know when the soldiers would be waking up. ‘At the far end of the cave…’Olivera nodded as if the girl was speaking to her physically. And gesturing with her head, for Miriam to follow her, she sauntered toward the end of the hall, making sure not to look at the tubes housing different organs and parts of an organism. What the hell! She screamed mentally when she saw a full brain at a table which looked like a butchering table. “Oh, my god…what are they doing here?” She heard Miriam ask beside her and sighed. Whose brain was that? A human
Miriam’s heart pounded erratically as she followed Olivera, who seemed very confident on what she was doing, and on where she was going. Three times she thought of grabbing Olivera and walking away from the region, but she also knew it would have been a futile attempt. Her friend’s mind was already made up. She watched as the latter walked past the last barrack, and stopped by a pole, the only pole in the backyard. Behind it were the gates towering them. They have come to a dead end. “Olivera, there is nothing here? Are you sure this girl is real?” Olivera gave Miriam no answer, instead she concentrated on looking around her, waiting for the signal. When she got nothing, she traced the vibration residue, touching the girl’s mind. A jerk in her mind path told her that the girl was surprised she had breached her mind guards. But should she be surprised? Or was something else at play here? ‘Where next should I go?’ She continued, because she knew she was at the right place, that t
“How are we getting past that?” Olivera asked Miriam as they came to stand before a huge gate that towered many feet over them. She could now see why Miriam had wanted the journey to be done in the privacy of the night. As much as she could see—as they had zapped to this point—this area wasn’t open to the city dwellers, only to the special few. She looked around her again. Barracks with soldiers sleeping within. None was even standing guard at the gates. She didn’t believe such a thing would exist at this time. City gates. Where did it lead? She piqued an eyebrow when Miriam smirked. What was the latter thinking? “As if you don’t already know…which other way, if not by mist…there is no way I am climbing that. I don’t think I am ready to fly with you above it…” Miriam spoke, covering the distance between them, and wrapping her arms around Olivera, her mouth fixed in a pout. Olivera shook her head, yet unable to stop the smile that cascaded her lips. It seemed that her friend was g
A knock woke Olivera up from her deep slumber. After bathing and eating off the snacks she had bought earlier in the day, from the shops in the new city, she had fallen like a log of wood to the bed, and hadn’t even stirred after that. Still groggy from the smooth sleep, she let her hand search for her phone which was the only thing that had gone to bed with her, should Miriam call for her. She peered at the screen. It was one in the morning. It was time then. She yawned like a hyena, causing Miriam to chuckle from behind the door. The chuckle dissipated the remaining fog fostering around her head. Taking a deep breath in, she stood up from the bed, flung a sheet around her naked body, and walked to the door. When she opened it, she saw that Miriam was alone, and carrying a tray of steaming food. “You are a lifesaver.” She muttered, opening the door wider for her friend to come in; the rumbling sounds that emitted from her stomach in agreement with her. Miriam chuckled again, an
“Where are we heading next?” Olivera asked Miriam immediately they stepped out of the borders of the town, into a city sprawling with people. After they had left the males who had tried to detain them because of her eating habits, they had walked to the largest building in the town, because if Clooney was a big name, it was probably because the man was rich. They hadn’t been right in their deduction, but they had at least gotten away from the unsettling males. Olivera had taken her friend behind the building, and had quickly switched to her mist form, turning Miriam into the same, and together they had zapped the remainder of the city without stopping, till they were out of it, till they were in a new one which looked more modernized than the previous. She looked at Miriam, who was staring at the city with artificial skylights, and wondered if her friend had ever been here before. “I never get over the culture shock, you know, seeing the drabness of the town we just left. The cont
What now? Olivera thought, looking at the six males that couldn’t be a year older than twenty five years old. What were they doing in front of her? “State your names, and what you are doing in this town…” The male, slightly in front of the others, spoke with a steel voice, causing Olivera and Miriam to exchange furtive glances. What was going on?There was a minute hesitation before Olivera spoke. “I am Darcy. My friend is Lilian. Who are you?” She patted herself mentally for names well cooked and delivered. Darcy and Lilian? How had she come up with those seemingly true names? She watched the male that had just spoken, looked to his comrades behind him, and judged that he was the leader of this small group. Were they the police? She looked at them again. They didn’t look like the police. Vigilantes? Maybe. But why were there vigilantes in the town? She kept a seal on her thoughts when the male returned her attention to her. “My name is Luke, and these are my associates. Our job is
“We will kill him right?” Miriam asked, as they stepped out of the camp, and turned around to look at it again, reliving what they had seen in there. “We need to. He is evil. Why will a sane man work with a vampire? Is he crazy?” Olivera just couldn’t understand the foolishness, no matter how much she tried. Why would one make a deal with an almost eternal wickedness? Had he no fear for his life, for his family? “I think he is crazy. Evil-y crazy. But that’s by the way. What are we going to do now?” Olivera looked around the camp, and spat in disgust. “We will burn it down. We will burn it until it’s nothing but dust. We will eradicate this curse from the face of the earth.” Miriam couldn’t agree less, but then she remembered that the ancients might have use for the materials in there. Olivera, having sensed the latter’s thoughts, shook her head. “They won’t be needing it. I’ve already transferred the necessary details to Raul, and Jacob. They can take it up from there. The mater
“Do you think anyone is in there?” Olivera asked Miriam, immediately she shifted to human self. Miriam looked at her clothed self and smiled. “Seems you have gotten the best hang of shifting, and still keeping your clothes on.” Olivera shrugged her shoulders. “There was no other choice. I can’t keep going up and down with my clothes in my hands or mouth. Since I’m part ancient, I have to improvise.” She took in a deep breath, inhaling the air tainted with magic and something else. “This place is tainted with magic. You smell it?” She shook off the imaginary dirt on her clothes, just in case, whilst waiting for Miriam’s reply. When she looked up, her friend was smiling. “What’s tickling your fancy? I don’t think my question has that much prowess…” Miriam cackled. “I never thought riding on a wolf would be so exhilarating. If I had known, I would have befriended a werewolf, and snagged rides every week at least. It’s quite freeing and therapeutic.” Olivera nodded. It was just as