In Flames, Destined Series Volume 1

by Elissa Daye

  “Quiet, Millie. Lord Aiden will not return until after the full moon. Remember not so long ago you were an outsider here. Would you like to join her?”

  Lysandra was not surprised to see Millie turn away quietly. Could she blame her? She felt her body being dragged down into the darkness, the painful throbs of her stinging flesh making it almost impossible to keep her eyes open. She lost control over her stomach and wretched pitifully on the ground before she fell into an abyss that beckoned her away from her pain.

  Chapter 17

  A deep, painful throb woke Lysandra in the most unbearable way as the arrogant pulse of energy ran up her spine from the welts embedded in her skin. When Lysandra finally opened her eyes, everywhere she looked was pitch-black, and not even her fingers could be seen in front of her face. Several minutes flew by before her eyes adjusted to the absence of light. She could see that she was inside a dark room with cold stone walls, dirt floor, and a resoundingly locked door. The icy room was much colder than usual, for she had no clothing to protect her from the elements, just a very thin blanket on the small patch of straw that had been thrown on the floor. There was no way she would get out of this mess without some help.

  She took a steady breath, trying not letting panic run through her as she realized she was trapped in a dungeon yet again. What was the last thing she remembered? The only answer that came to her was the sharp image of a whip cracking across the back of her skull. She wondered if she were meant to rot here in this cell. Would Aiden even know where she was? What would his reaction be if he were to find her hidden away here?

  It was clear that Anna acted on her own accord, for Aiden had left Lysandra safely within his chambers before he had left Blackwolf Keep. Lysandra could only hope that Aiden returned soon. Since she was an outsider among his people it was less than likely anyone would come to her aid. She shivered as a draft entered the room through the small separation of space between the floor and the bottom of the door. She listened closely and heard the shuffling of feet.

  “Hello?”

  Lysandra thought she recognized the voice. Was that Millie? “Yes? In here.”

  “I’ve brought you some food. The guard is going to open the door and let me put this inside.”

  Lysandra agonized when a feeling of despair clawed its way up to the surface. She closed her eyes and took in a long, calming breath. She reminded herself that she was from Elkliss and she had her mother’s strength within her. This too would pass. She just had to make it another few days until Aiden came home.

  When Millie entered, she shut the door behind her. She came nearer to Lysandra and put her hand on her shoulder. “Listen, dearie, Lord Aiden returns soon. You just have to make it another day or so. I will make sure you have food and water. ‘Tis better than the likes of her would have sent you, but ‘twas all I could do. Lady Anna will be away with the full moon as well, so you will not have to worry about her.”

  Lysandra could make out the serious look on Millie’s face. She knew that Millie had wanted to help her earlier, but her place here was just as precarious as Lysandra’s. “I thank you greatly for the food, Millie. It’s more than enough.”

  Millie nodded quietly to her and turned to leave. Before she opened the door, she looked back at Lysandra. “Your courage is greatly admired among those of us who have come to Blackwolf Keep under similar circumstances. You have friends here, Lysandra.”

  Lysandra smiled at the door as Millie walked through it. A friend. It had been a long time since she had actually made one. The time she had been away from Elkliss Keep already felt like an eternity. She wished she had treasured the friends she had back then just a little more. Now that they were gone she missed every moment she had spent with them. There was so much she would change if she could go back in time, back to her beloved home of Elkliss, but even the Adrianic magic that coursed through her blood could not help her with that. It was these thoughts that kept her company, for it was all she had in the darkness that sealed in around her.

  Lysandra had finally found peace in her sleep after hours of pacing. Millie had brought her food as often as she could, but she still had no idea what time of day it was, only that it had been a few hours since Millie had brought her food. She sat up in the straw bed and wrapped the blanket around her. It seemed even colder in this room than it had been earlier. Perhaps that meant it was evening, as the cold winds of night often brought a draft into the keep. She wished she had some kind of fire to keep her warm, even just a small one.

  “Hmm. I wonder?” Lysandra scooped up an armful of straw and walked to the center of the room. She placed it on the floor and bunched it up as close as it would go, then stepped away from the pile. She closed her eyes and conjured up any emotions that could help her create enough energy to build a fire before her. She let her mind wander back to the spiteful Anna and her need to punish her in the eyes of her people. She felt the heat rising in her, boiling the blood that flowed warmly through her veins. She felt the deep, heavy breaths constricting the movement of her lungs. Hot, white anger flashed behind her eyes, her teeth clenched her jaw tight like a vise, and her fingernails tore into her palms. She unleashed her fury on the straw before her and watched as it caught fire; the hungry crackling of the flames ate at the straw like a rabid dog.

  The flame devoured the straw instantly, but Lysandra was able to keep it alive with the tornado of feelings circulating within her. It kept her company long enough to warm her, long enough to make resolutions for her life when Aiden came home. When she heard the clank of a metal door in the distance with the pounding of feet she raised her arm over the fire and snuffed out the flame with a quick flick of her wrist. She gathered the blanket firmly around her and crept back to the corner of the room, for this time she knew Millie was not coming to help her.

  The key in the lock turned slowly and it seemed to take forever for the door to open. “There she is, laddies.”

  “Are you sure we should be here, Vince? She does belong to Lord Aiden.”

  Lysandra looked up at the three men in the doorway. Trepidation crept along her spine and small, tingling warnings raced through her body. These men were not quite right. There was something wild and dangerous about them. She could smell the rum on them from here. An invisible beast howled in the back of her mind, a warning that bad things were to come. She understood the message. Lysandra stood up quietly and faced her captors with the only courage she had left within her veins.

  “Look, she’s ready for us. Who’s first? Did we decide yet?”

  Lysandra clenched her fists in the blanket bunched up around her. She knew that Anna had put them up to this. She raised her chin, her eyes narrowed, and her nose crinkled into an angry sneer. She kept her wits about her as the first one lunged at her. She dodged him instantly then hopped to the other side of the room. The other two men entered and soon all three formed a circle around her. Lysandra cinched the blanket about her by folding it over. She then raised her hands to fend off the men who jumped at her. She struggled in their arm holds and the fear ate away at her, making it difficult to think. Survival reared its vicious head as she kicked, thrashed, and bit at the hands that held her down. The two men that held her arms forced her down to the ground while the first man put his dirty paws between her legs.

  “Hold her still, you two. Bash her upside the head if you have to.”

  A fist slammed against her jaw and she almost lost consciousness. She could feel him trying to gain entry into her when a large growl sounded from the doorway. It happened in an instant, so quickly Lysandra could not make sense of it. One minute there were three men around her and in the next moment one of them was lying on the floor, blood pouring out of a gaping wound that used to be his neck. A gray wolf stood there, fiercely protective with a dangerous sneer that communicated its desire to tear each of them apart piece by piece. Lysandra watched in a strange trance as the rest of the men fell. It was clear that the wolf had never intended to let them go, no matter how much they
pleaded for their lives.

  While the men fell before him, Lysandra sat there in awe of its magnificence. The shock of the horror she saw in front of her ran lightly across her mind for a moment and then fluttered carelessly into the wind. There was something about this wolf that was achingly familiar, but her throbbing head made it difficult to get a better look at him.

  The wolf jerked its head up as if to tell her it was time to leave this room. Lysandra rose as steady as her head would let her, wrapped the blanket around her one more time, and followed behind him. When he led her up the stairs she found herself in the middle of an empty keep. She had not realized it, but she seemed to have been beneath the keep the whole time. She turned toward the wolf, who sat just inches away from her. When he looked at her mysteriously, she knelt before him. “Thank you.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and breathed in his scent. Again, it was familiar. If she closed her eyes she could almost picture the face that went with it, but before she could the wolf stumbled away from her grasp. It nodded to the stairs and Lysandra looked over to see Millie at the top.

  “Here, miss. Quick. Lord Aiden will be back tomorrow. Come with me. I’ll get you sorted out.” She almost missed the knowing glance that Millie threw down to the silver wolf.

  When Lysandra turned back to the wolf she was sad to see that he had already left. She climbed the stairs as fast as her feet would carry her and let Millie wrap a protective arm around her. She was led into the master chamber and Lysandra moved away. “No, Millie. It will only make Lady Anna react again.”

  “Trust me when I say that Lady Anna will not do anything this time.” Millie gave her a secretive look that she wished she could decipher. Layla had been right. There was something strange at Blackwolf Keep.

  Chapter 18

  The wolf turned around to look at the keep. He could see Lysandra’s shape pass across the window of his room. He debated going to her, but he knew that even though she had seen him in this form he would not be able to stand the fear or confusion in her eyes when she learned that the man she had known was the beast before her. She could handle the man, but could she handle the wolf?

  Aiden turned his eyes away from the form whose eyes now sought him from the window. He sprinted away from her and left for the safety of the forest, for there he could turn himself loose and appease the wildness that raced through his veins as the large orb made its way back to sleep until the next month.

  There he found the other werewolves of his pack and his eyes searched for the one who had caused this mess. He found her chasing another wolf in a clearing. Aiden let loose an angry howl, so loud that it made the others look back to him. When they turned to him he raced over to Anna’s small wolf form and bared his teeth. His threat was clear. She had defied his leadership by acting like she had control over the keep while he was away. He may have given her more leeway in the past, but it was time to rein her back in. She would never have made a good mate for him, something he had known long ago. He had always been truthful with her, but she still had set her eyes on him. He gnashed his teeth angrily at the air in front of her feet and she rolled over onto her back.

  When he finally walked away from her, the others turned away from her as well. The light brown female wolf whimpered silently at them, but none turned back. Aiden watched as she stood slowly and walked as gracefully as her shunned feet would take her. It was the last open warning he would give her before she was ousted from the pack.

  When the light of the moon faded and the sun took its morning path across the sky Aiden returned home. His first thought was to check on Lysandra, but he could not give in to the weakness. His people would be watching him closely and they were already disappointed that Anna had been punished because of an outsider. He would have to wait until the evening, when prying eyes were no longer awake. By staying away it would translate to his clan that he was simply not happy that Anna had thought she had any authority over the keep and its inhabitants, and that it didn’t have anything to do with any attachment he might have to Lysandra.

  He had apparently shown Lady Anna too much favor in the eyes of his people, especially if they thought that she garnered any sense of control over his thoughts or actions. He had toyed with the idea of her over the years, for he had not been sure what he would do with Lady Anna. While she was an annoyance most times, he had not been ready to be alone at the time. Lady Anna, Lady Selia’s cousin, had clung to him when his intended had been ripped away from him. Aiden had been weak then; he had allowed her feelings for him to grow even when all he felt was an emotional detachment. There were not many women left inside Blackwolf that maintained a noble heritage with roots deep in Blackwolf’s past, so she had been given far too much lenience. He had allowed her to stay when Lady Selia was gone, even against his better judgment. He would tolerate her blustery attitude no more, but he had to be careful in how he approached the situation for, above all else he had to hold the sanctity of his clan together.

  Aiden sat and listened to the reports from his absence. He had only been gone for four days, but it never failed. Some of the horses were sick, the sheep escaped through one of the fences that separated them from the fields, and a grinding wheel needed to be replaced. There was always something. He would have to spend time going over the accounts, something he always did right after a full moon since his head was clearer once the beast within had settled for a while.

  He also watched over the burials for the men who had attempted to hurt Lysandra. They were not part of his pack as they were not Blackwolf born; therefore, they were not werewolves like the rest of them. They were simply men that he had hired to guard the castle when his pack went out for the hunt. He would have to be more careful the next time he hired anyone, for he needed to know that the others that had found a home within Blackwolf’s walls were always protected in his absence. Several of the serving women who kept the keep running during the full moon had also been outsiders when they were brought to Blackwolf. These were the women he hoped would help Lysandra become accustomed to life at Blackwolf.

  When Aiden finally climbed the stairs to his room he was exhausted. He had not expected to find Lysandra awake and was not wrong in his assumption that she would still be asleep. She was curled up peacefully inside his bed, the gentle waves of sleep taking over her. He changed out of his clothes and slid beneath the covers next to her. He rolled away from her as sleep eluded him. Her scent, the touch of her hair, the taste of her skin beckoned him even when she lay there as still as a lamb.

  Chapter 19

  Lysandra felt Aiden’s breath on her shoulder. She could tell it was late in the evening as dead silence rang across the keep and the flames of the fire had long simmered away. It was almost as if she could sense the debate that ran through his mind. She turned to face him and snuggled her head on his shoulder. It was good to have him back. She felt safer than she had for the past four days. She sighed quietly when his hand stroked her hair back from her face.

  “Welcome home, Aiden.” She raised her head to kiss him on his cheek, but his mouth met hers in mid-air. It started as a simple kiss, almost chaste, but that would never be enough for either one of them. A hot intensity swelled from the tip of her toes to the top of her head as Aiden’s mouth worked its magic while his hands roamed in paths known only to him.

  “So lovely.” Aiden nibbled the hollow of her neck, strumming the desire in her so easily that she felt her toes curl up as her body yearned to get closer to his.

  Lysandra’s hands started to roam down Aiden’s naked body, happy to feel the heat of his body transfer to her with each touch. When her hands reached down his rippled abdomen, down past his navel, straight to the warm coils of hair covering his groin, she could hear him take in a stuttered breath. She wrapped her hand around him; the smooth, soft shaft was engorged and its heat seared her palm. She ran her fingers over the tip and felt the soft lips that covered the head. She rubbed over it several time while she lightly caressed the underside of his shaft. She fel
t a heady power take over her as Aiden groaned aloud.

  “Careful, minx. This will be over before it’s started.”

  The restless energy Lysandra had felt, the fear, all the anger, it all made its way to the surface as she teased the flames that raced through Aiden. For once she felt like she was the puppeteer who controlled the feelings that coursed through her lover. The kisses she ran down his body reflected Aiden’s tutelage. She smiled knowingly against his stomach when the muscles bunched underneath her lips, and she teased him even further with a few gentle nips. When she made her way down further she licked her lips then looked up at Aiden .

  “What are you doing, Lysandra?”

  “I’m sorry, was that a complaint?” She licked the soft head once and then wrapped her lips around it. Her tongue darted swiftly around the head of his erection to the slit at opening. She had seen something similar at Ghelli House, and while she had not understood at the time she could not misinterpret the jolt that went through Aiden’s hips as he ground them closer to her mouth. She removed her mouth and looked up at him. “Did you want me to stop?”

  “Come here, witch.” His order was quite clear. He was not quite ready to let go of his control of the situation, but Lysandra was not ready to yield her position yet either.

  “And if I say no?”

  Aiden growled at her, but she did not feel threatened in the least. She climbed up from her position and moved closer to where he lay. He raised her hips over his and, as she settled her legs around his, he lured her swiftly onto him. Lysandra shivered from the inside out as the heat sparked a fire even hotter that sent her spiraling out of control as she ground her body into his. She rode the waves that shot through her and they rocked through her so fiercely her feet arched against the sheets. Aiden was close behind her, but she was so wrapped up in her own bliss that she had almost missed the rapture that ran across his face. A sleepy trance fell over her as contentment covered her like a warm blanket.