Forbidden Union: A Paranormal Romance (Harem of The Mindslayer Book 3)

by Willa Hart

  “Sir, no sir, please do not.” she begs, her eyes dart about and land upon me. “Ask the young Prince, sir, ask him, he was…he was—” she gasps out.

  My heart races about my chest. The girl falls to the cobble and her tongue lolls out of his mouth.

  Uncle stands in front of the young laundress, but Uncle has no mindslaying powers. Who is doing this for Uncle? My gaze flits about The Counsel. Is one of them assisting Uncle when he slays?

  She lies in the center of the street. Her hands twitch at her sides. Her final breaths. Her open eyes stare into space and her tongue hangs from her mouth.

  “Well, it would seem this one had very little to share.” Uncle jerks his head toward the laundresses kneeling in the streets. “She’s not infected, but that does not negate that the Dreg that started the infection that claimed both Prince Sarkany and Prince Taraz came from here.” Uncle shoots his gaze over the girls. “We can’t be too careful where this infection is concerned. Slay them all.”

  I blast my mind around the girls. I can’t protect them for long, but perhaps I can protect them just long enough. I feel a wave…a wave building around me.

  The Slayers, dressed in red robes, take their positions around the helpless girls. Lady Alana looks away.

  “Ah, tis a thing of beauty is it not, to be able to slay,” Uncle says.

  I don’t know how you are doing this, I think, but I will find out who is assisting you.

  Uncle doesn’t respond to my thoughts. He turns to his horse, mounts, and with the Royal Guard flanking him he proceeds deeper into the Ninaku district ready to draw even more Dreg blood.

  Crash!

  Glass shatters on the cobble streets. Fire fills the sky around me. The Slayers pause their assault and the thinning of my mind stops. Smoke billows around us. Above me, jar upon jar of liquid fire rains from the windows above.

  Confusion surrounds us. The girls scream and cover their heads. They dash to the laundry. Slayers and guards spin around in the street.

  Uncle turns his horse and gallops toward me. “What the devil?” His eyes widen. “Dregs don’t fight back!”

  Fireballs hurl through the air. Hundreds. Thousands. Jar upon jar of oil and fire and glass shattering on the cobbles around me. A Slayer’s coat catches fire. The flame leaps up and torches his hair. He runs and his entire body is consumed by flame. The guards break rank. Running from the open spot where jar upon jar of oil spatters upon them.

  “Back here now!” Uncle bellows. But many of them are Dregs and from this very slum; instead of protecting Uncle they too run for cover.

  “Oh sweet Goddess!” Lady Alanna screams.

  A pack of Dreg dogs jump at Lady Alana. Horses scramble and turn. The dogs leap at a Mindslayer, and soon they have him by the arm and are pulling him onto the ground. I unsheathe my sword and gallop toward them at a full tilt, slicing through the air toward Lady Alana. I reach down and grasp her around the waist and hoist her up onto my mount. As we continue to gallop, I look back and see most of the Slayers are on fire or consumed by the beasts. Orlo is on the ground, his head twisted at an odd angle, and his face torn from his body.

  Uncle is nowhere to be found. We ride like a demon is on our heels toward the gate. Lady Alana’s hair whips in my face. The Dregs are closing the doors to Ninaku. A line of twenty-deep on either side of the gate put muscle to bone and push with all their might to shut the mighty Ninaku gates. So instead of keeping the Dregs in Ninaku, they will be keeping the Eliterrati out.

  The guard tower has been overtaken. The guards hung by their throats from either tower. The steel doors slowly close under the might of the Dreg men.

  I dig my heels into my horse. If we do not make it out of Ninaku now, we will most surely die.

  “Oh Goddess,” Lady Alana screams, and covers her eyes. I dig my heels in deeper, not sure if we’ll make it through the closing gap.

  Either we make it out of Ninaku now, or we die.

  Chapter Five

  Rex

  Heavy is the head that wears the crown. While I technically have no crown to wear, as crowns are a human construct that Wolveskin find ridiculous, still the sentiment applies. I open my eyes. My Beta and two sentries stand beside my bed. The night is deep. In wolf form, I appreciate wakefulness in the night and baying at the moon, galloping beneath Luna’s pale light; tonight as a human, I simply desire sleep and my warm bed.

  “King Rex, there are…” Sharalla’s gaze slides from me to the sentries. “There are humans here.”

  “I’m well aware that there are humans here, we brought them to the lair. Do you not remember the battles we fought?” I press my hands across my jaw forcing my eyelids to stay open.

  “No sir, there are more humans,” Sharalla says.

  “Impossible. Humans do not find our lair unless we bring them here.

  “These humans have found our lair, sir. They are…they are from Ninaku, sir.”

  I sit up fast. “As in Dregs?”

  “I believe that is what they are called, sir, we have them in the outer-room and they are wi—”

  “You tied them up, didn’t you? Please tell me that you did not hang them upside down as you did Jix?”

  Sharalla glances from me to the sentries. She drops her gaze to the floor. She begins to speak, but I have no time for her words.

  “Go get them down, I will be there momentarily.” I swing back the covers from my bed, and the cool night air slips over my flesh. So much warmer to sleep as a wolf, but with so many humans about, somehow it seems more appropriate to sleep in my human form, although not nearly as cozy. When Meela shares my bed as my Queen will she prefer me to sleep in Wolveskin form or human?

  Sharalla and the sentries leave my chamber.

  Be fearful of ensnaring yourself in human affairs has been a Wolveskin mantra for a millennia. I rise and walk toward my wardrobe. A picture of King Dryse, my father, hangs beside the door to my en suite bathroom. As is the Wolveskin tradition for Kings, in the foreground of the painting is his human face and in the background is his Wolveskin form. Always with us, always near the surface, always guarding, always protecting, forever one with us and nature is our wolf.

  “Didn’t really listen to that famous mantra, did you Father?”

  I pull on pants and a shirt. “Kind of screwed us on staying separate from humans when you allowed your Beta to marry a human and then bound me to their daughter.” I glance out the ceiling window. The light has not started to shift, dawn is still far in the night. “Not so sure it was the right call,” I say. “But Meela, she’s quite something, I’ll grant you that.” I press two fingers to my lips and then press my fingertips to my father’s cheek. He was a good King and an excellent father. “I should be so lucky to do as well as you.” I walk out of my room wondering what kind of human created mess I’ll have to help clean up tonight.

  “We mean you no harm!” Two men and a woman stand in the center of my throne room. They do not have the air of refinement that hovers around Prince Taraz or Prince Sarkany. The humans that stand before me have a demeanor more similar to Jix, who is also a Ninaku Dreg. They smell of hunger and forest and fear.

  I seat myself upon my throne. Two of my sentries remain in human form while four stand guard as Wolveskin. They don’t bare their teeth to our human guests, but they stand at attention and any human would be ill-advised to make any sudden movements with a Wolveskin, much less four, on guard.

  “I’m King Rex,” I say. “And you are…?” I need to know more before I decide if I should kill them for stumbling upon our lair or simply rip out their tongues so that they can’t tell anyone where we are located.

  “We are…we are Dregs, sir,” the older man who is wiry with grey hair says. “Could you, could you call off your dogs?”

  One of my sentries growls with the word dog.

  I smile toward him knowing how offensive it is to a Wolveskin to be called dog. The man holds up his hand, fearful that he is about to be mauled. And justifiably so.<
br />
  “Sir,” the woman says, walking toward me. She is dark-skinned with light blonde hair. “We were sent as…as envoys from the Dreg underground.”

  I lean forward in my throne. “While I was taught much about Roya history as a cub, and I did learn about your Dreg Guilds, I’ve never heard about any underground leadership for Ninaku Dregs?”

  All three humans exchange glances.

  “What? You thought us to be ill-informed, illiterate beasts with no knowledge of the outside world?” I smile. “Oh no, no, no, we know a great deal about you humans and your world and history. It’s us who have chosen to remain secret.” I lean back in my chair. “But how would you have known about us? Why would you have even begun to seek us out? We are merely mythical creatures utilized by you in your stories to scare your children, are we not?”

  “I brought them here.” I know the voice that cuts through the darkness of the throne room.

  A shiver races down my spine.

  My older brother, Eregos, walks into the light. He’s still tall and lean and his skin is a copper color. His hair is long and dark and pulled back into a bun. He’s older, but from the look of what he’s done and who he’s led to my lair, not much wiser.

  “You take a great risk with your life and theirs,” I growl.

  “Only because of necessity, my King.”

  My nostrils flare as I take in a breath. His scent…there is no fear on Eregos, but there never was, one of the reasons that he is so dangerous to me and to my pack.

  “We’re here, sir—” the woman continues.

  “Excuse me, but do you have a name?” I ask.

  “I do, sir, I’m sorry. I am Lorelai and that is Nixal and Cax,” she says. The two men raise their hands and wave. “We’re here, sir, because there has been an uprising, in Ninaku,” Lorelai continues.

  “A Dreg uprising?” I ask. I glance to Eregos. “Is it true?”

  “It is indeed,” Eregos says. He walks closer. He holds his hand out to Brianna, my Beta. She glances at me to confirm how she is required to respond to my brother. I nod. Brianna smiles and clasps Eregos’ forearm in greeting. “The Dregs are rising up, much like Father said would happen should the Eliterrati fail to change their system. The Dregs are organizing and arming themselves. They seek leadership,” Eregos says. His gaze locks on me. “And an ally.”

  “We hear you have the Unifier,” Lorelai bursts out. Joy and hope, dangerous emotions for a Dreg, spread across Lorelai’s face. “The prophesy states that she’ll come to lead us when the Dregs rise and we hear she’s here, with you.” Lorelai drops her gaze, takes a deep breath. She looks up and into my eyes with a hopefulness that presses upon my heart. “Is it true?” Her gaze bespeaks a millennia of Dreg torture. “Do you have her? Is she here amongst you? The Queen that is meant to take us through the dark night into the promised land?”

  I cut my gaze to Eregos. The silver rim around his pupils glows with hungry intensity. He too is hopeful that she’s here, much like our father said would happen. Much like Father believed when he bound me to Meela and not his first-bound son Eregos.

  “Tell me of this uprising,” I say. “What has happened in Ninaku?”

  “Better yet, my brother,” Eregos says. “Let us show you.”

  I’ve not slept. I sent our three guests for food, hot baths, and then to bed. The three humans are uncomfortable, being surrounded by Wolveskin; I smell it on them. But Eregos is very comfortable to have returned home. Perhaps too comfortable.

  “You will keep a close watch on my brother,” I tell Brianna.

  She nods to me. “Yes, sir.”

  “He is to have freedom of movement and is to be treated with the respect that any Wolveskin would be treated with, but should anything unusual happen you are to report to me immediately. Are we clear?”

  My brother jokes with a number of Wolveskin who were his closest friends when he was a cub. They’re all nearly a decade older than I, and while I’m the King and the Alpha and their respect is mandatory, the fact that my older brother has returned from the human realm could cause some to question my authority.

  Eregos glances from his circle of friends to me. He lifts an eyebrow while he leans even closer to listen to the words of his childhood friends. What are you after, my brother?

  I turn and leave. The time is now well past daybreak. I’ve heard and seen all the stories about the Dreg uprising, and while the Dregs are keen to see Meela, I’m keen to inform her and the Roya Princes what has happened in Ninaku.

  Is it the beginning of the prophesy? Is the shift occurring now? Is Meela truly the Unifier who has been promised to not only the Dregs and the Wolveskin but to all the other creatures that inhabit the realms?

  Meela? The Unifier? My father believed. And her parents must have believed as well, otherwise why hide her in Ninaku? She and her sister were in grave danger after the assassination of the Roya Queen and her Kings. But why not bring her here? To the Wolveskin? What did her parents fear within the pack?

  I turn the corner into my map room where I’ve requested that the Roya Princes and Meela meet me.

  “There has been a Dreg uprising,” I say.

  Prince Taraz turns from the map table where he stands beside Jix.

  “Uprising?” Sarkany says. “In Ninaku? Your Wolveskin spies aren’t very bright.” He stares at a chart above the table indicating Wolveskin lands, still uncharted by the Eliterrati. “There can be no uprising in Ninaku because Ninaku Dregs don’t fight unless we train them.”

  “Sarkany is correct,” Taraz says. “Without Mindslayer capability it’s historically impossible for the Dregs to mount an offensive that will work against the Eliterrati. Plus, they’re simply not disciplined enough to work together.”

  “Your assessment of the Dreg condition seems to be untrue. Three Dregs arrived here in the night sent by the Ninaku underground.” I nod toward the Deuteronomy Globe in the center of the map room. I walk toward the giant glass ball; Prince Sarkany and Prince Taraz, with Jix by his side, join me. A green light the color of sunshine through tree leaves inhabits the globe when not in use. With all of us standing around the globe the glass begins to shimmer with a warm reddish light.

  Ninaku comes into focus and the events that my Wolveskin have sent to me through our link unfold and play out in the globe. We watch Regent Vlissimal force the girls from the Ninaku laundry.

  “That’s the laundry,” Meela says. She now stands beside me and the heat of her anger mixes with her fear. “That is where…where is my sister?” she asks. Her eyebrows tighten and she steps even closer to the globe and peers down at the events unfolding within the glass.

  Dribble is mindslayed, and Meela presses her hand to her mouth. She says nothing but her gaze continues searching for Huali amongst all the girls from the laundry.

  “Leo,” Taraz whispers, watching the Prince rush to save Lady Alana from the pack of wild dogs. Bottles of liquid fire rain from the buildings thrown by the Dregs of Ninaku.

  “How is this possible?” Sarkany asks. “Dregs have neither the spirit nor the smarts to construct an army or a defense.”

  My gaze flicks to Meela who looks at her fated-mate.

  “I am a Dreg from Ninaku,” she says.

  “But you’re not,” Sarkany says. “You’re Eliterrati. We found evidence of as much in your parents’ home in the woods. Your mother was a handmaiden for our mother. Your parents hid you amongst the Dregs of Ninaku to keep you safe for whatever reason, bu—”

  “For whatever reason?” Meela interrupts. Her voice is sharp; Sarkany pauses and looks at her, not understanding her sudden anger. Taraz drops his gaze back to the globe.

  “Yes, we’re unsure as to why you were placed there,” Sarkany continues. “It’s obvious that you being hidden has to do with your safety and possibly the prophesy, but I don’t know why, do yo—”

  “Because I’m half-Wolveskin,” Meela says. Her tone is cold and her gaze is blade sharp. “Or as you’ve said, my Prince, a f
ilthy dog.”

  The beast inside me growls and the vibration thickens in my human chest. Meela presses a hand to my arm and thinks, Please, my King.

  Sarkany’s gaze follows her touch and his eyes widen as though I’ve taken his mate from him.

  “What is this? What lies has King Rex told you? That you are a beast? An animal? A Wolveskin?” Sarkany says the words with such hate that again my beast howls inside me and threatens to emerge.

  “Be warned.” The words are a low grumble from my throat. “Prince, you are a guest in my home, amongst my pack.”

  Prince Sarkany is a guest within my lair, and I don’t usually disembowel my guests, but then they don’t usually say such nasty things not only about me and my pack but also about my betrothed.

  “Sarkany,” Taraz says in a warning voice, “you do not wish to continue down this path. It’s quite probable that what Meela says is true.”

  “That she is a dog?”

  “It’s Wolveskin, Roya,” I growl out.

  “That’s Prince Roya to you,” Sarkany says, and puffs up his chest.

  A fine fur emerges from my flesh. The rage is so thick I can barely keep from turning. He has insulted me, my pack, and now also my integrity.

  “Do you have the audacity to disparage my bloodline, my pack, and your fated-mate who is also my betrothed?”

  Sarkany stops. His mouth drops open as though what I’ve just said has stolen his ability to speak. His gaze rips from me to Meela. “What? Is this true? Are you…are you betrothed to the wolf?”

  “I…I…do believe so,” Meela says.

  “And you have shared his bed?” Sarkany’s voice holds thunder.

  Her gaze tightens and her lips firm into a tight line. “While I’m free to share any bed that I choose, as it is my right as a woman, no, I have not yet shared King Rex’s bed.”

  “Yet?” Sarkany roars. “But it is on your list of things to do? To accomplish?”

  “Where is my sister?” Meela interrupts. “Where is Huali?”

  Sarkany sinks with Meela’s question. His anger still present but deflating.