Chapter 1- The Realm of Red

Fire Kingdom, The Realm of Red.

Pearl Jane felt the blow before she heard a slap across her face. It could have been nastier. It could have been a sucker punch. Those punches really hurt, especially coming from a man almost two times her size.

"You're going to be mine, little whore… mine," the smelly fat guy snickered as he grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to the blood-stained couch.

"Over my dead body!" Pearl grumbled under her breath.

"You have a big stupid mouth for a crazy bitch." The fat guy's hands moved down to the zipper of his pants, and she closed her eyes.

Disgusting.

She thought. Out of all the mess she'd gone through in her boring wanderer life, the one thing she thought she'd escaped was rape, but apparently Hell or whoever the heck was watching out for her shat the bed on this, too. "Don't bother with the lubricant, because based on the small size of that thing, I'll barely feel it," she replied with the same scowl on her face that made the rest of his gang laugh.

That did it. The fat dude glared at her, one fist raised in the air. It was hilarious to see him charging at her with his warrior pants falling down his legs. "You little bitch… I'm going to teach you a lesson you'll never forget."

"With your fists, right? Because that little dick of yours looks pretty forgettable. I didn't even notice it. Poor thing."

Another deadly growl escaped his lips as he tugged at her hair, pulling so hard that her scalp was on fire. Bloody hell, that hurt.

She sneered, "I might be into some little kinky shit, but pal, take a class because you aren't doing it right."

"I'm going to make you suffocate to death on my dick, you little slut."

Over her dead body. Pearl pursed her lips, preparing herself to fucking die before she let the werewolf put his filthy little dick in her mouth. How could she be this stupid? Of course, she could kill the man in a blink, but risk her secret? Hell no!

"I've got other techniques to pry your mouth open." He smiled wickedly, "...boys!"

The two gigantic men who were sitting on the sidelines got up, finally ready to join the game. The younger one glances at Pearl before looking away, almost as if he was trying to say sorry. Not sorry enough to do something about her impending doom, though.

The other one—the tall, skinny one with disgusting brown zits covering his entire face—looks more cold and bitter. His dead eyes glint as his lips form a smile. "Perhaps we should plug all her holes and give her a truly good time that would let her scream."

"The fuck you will," a deep voice shrieked into the room.

Pearl can't stop smiling as the pale colour in the fat one's face drains, making him appear like a ghost. He glared at Pearl, getting ahold of his betraying face before anyone else glimpsed the nervousness lingering in his eyes. That was the thing with wannabe vultures like this man. He couldn't really stand the ordeal against someone who actually oozed power.

Her father was a feeble, cruel man-child who preyed on the weak in order to feel like he had some control over his miserable life. Pearl should know. She was his second-dearest prey, her mother his first. Bloody asshole of a king.

"This isn't any problem of yours, Ethan. The agreement was that we'd hand her to you unharmed. You... see any dents on her lovely little body?" His lizard green tongue slashed out as he licked his bottom lips.

The man called Ethan was enormous, like a freaking giant—all muscle, and his face looked like an angel, clean-cut, chiselled, and something that most women would stalk after and most men would fear. The grey three-piece suit he was wearing looked like something straight out of a French runway. It doesn't even make sense to find a man who looks like him in a dainty pub like this, but oddly enough, he looked like he could blend in anywhere. Pearl breathed in the heavy, delicious scent in the air and realized that the man was a warrior werewolf. A powerful one.

His posture was completely casual as if he didn't have a care in the world, but his dark eyes seemed like black pools ready to unleash all sorts of hell and sweet promises of sex. If it was possible to stare into the eyes of the devil, it would be this man's—dark, dangerous, and void of all emotion yet heated in all the right places.

His massive hand fidgets with a green lightning bolt, a werewolf who knows his magic. Very interesting, Pearl thought. The flame flickered on and off, a switch controlled only by him and no one else. "Look at me, asshole."

Guess the ugly fat one's name was asshole.

His body stiffened and his faint brown eyes went white; his hand dropped from his little dickland, and he staggered, struggling to pull up his pants, which pooled at his feet.

Ethan pushed off the wall. His slow actions were fascinating. For such an enormous man, he moved with such fluid beauty and elegance, like a lion, a lion king. Pearl was caught in some sort of magical sweet sensual trance and couldn't look away.

"Don't bother lifting your disgusting pants."

The asshole smiles, and Pearl's heart drops. Fuck. He was going to join him. Not only was she going to get raped, but it was going to be by a gang of gigantic dog men. She might have had some fucked-up sexual desires, but this one wasn't on the list. Not at all.

Ethan pinned her with his stare. His lips curve into a nasty, delicious smile. Him? She would do it, but the rest of the ugly ones? Hell, no!

He smiled again as if reading her thoughts. A smile, one meant to intimidate, not reassure, or a promise of delicious sexual escapades. He bends down, his warm knuckles caressing the same spot the fat one hit, the delicate touch with the anger-lust-filled look in his eyes. "You can get off that awful couch, woman."

Ethan doesn't have to tell her twice. Her ass gets up so fast that she gets light-headed. He grabbed the fat guy by the neck and lifted him; Pearl watched as his legs dangle in the air and his face turned ruddy from Ethan's cutting off his airway. "When I say she is to be unharmed, that means not one thing on her body can be touched by your dirty fuckin' hands. Every single fraction of her body belongs to me. Only to me. You thought you'd taste my belongings and walk away with no sort of retribution? How foolish are you, asshole?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't think, boss," the fat dude squeaked. The green magical light flickered on and off in Ethan's hand, and the fat guy's eyes went wide. "What are you going to do, Ethan?" "No!" the poor man trembled.

Pearl smirked.

Ethan grinned, showing off flat, pearly white fangs. "You've heard the tales, haven't you?"

The fat guy shakes his head, making him look like a defected bobble head.

Ethan brings his green magical lightning to the guy's dick as the fume of burned hair fills the air. "You know what I'm capable of?" The fat guy's eyes go wide at Ethan's words. "You laid your hands on her. She is mine to taste. Mine!"

"No, please. I didn't touch her, I was just messing with her," the fatty werewolf begged.

Pathetic, Pearl thought. But hey! She doesn't belong to anyone. Not even to this hotty of a warrior.

Ethan laughed. The sound was manic. "Is that why she has a mark on her face? Because you didn't touch her?"

The fat guy shakes his head, eyes going wide. When he spoke, his voice was uncertain. "It was just a little pat. I didn't mean it. Just a touch," he mumbled as he looked at Ethan's hands, then whispered. "No! Please! Sire!"

Ethan hauls the fat guy over to Pearl, pushing his face so close to her face that she weeps at his foul breath. "That little red mark you left on her face. Does that look like just messing around? You marked her, little mutt, and now I'm going to make you pay."

"Please, Ethan. I'm sorry. I made a mistake. Let me make it up to you."

"I don't do second chances, big guy. You know that."

Then a blond gentleman who looked like a dead champion in beast mode with a ridiculous smile and large silver chains around his neck moved beside Ethan and poured a clear liquid on the fat guy's shaft.

Magical fluid.

Dark bile rises in the back of Pearl's throat, mixing in with the morbid enjoyment of the man getting what he deserves.

"You tried to take something valuable from me, and now I'm going to take something more valuable from you." Ethan declared with a wicked smile. The green flame from his hand moved along to the fat guy's dick, and the deafening sound of his screams reverberated in the pub as the others laughed.

Stumbling back, Pearl tried to compose herself. Her hands run down her body as if she was trying to even out hidden creases. "Well, thanks for the aid."

As she reached the door, a firm grip grabbed her wrist. "Not so fast, little princess."