by Tay T
She was selfish and just as greedy as her forefathers.
“You know, little sorceress, it’s been a while now since we have been acquainted, but I have yet to know your name,” he remarked, noting her solemn approach, and purposefully tried to provoke her with his words. “Let me guess. Is it Emily, Dallia, Jessica, Noemi, or, perhaps, Maya?”
His sharp eyes took note of the grave expressions on her face before she could quickly mask it behind a fortifying layer of indifference.
It seemed his little sorceress had finally figured it out. And much faster than he had expected.
“I still prefer to call you ‘little sorceress,’ though,” he continued to say.
Maya refused to reply to his taunting.
Her pretty face darkened and became icy cold at his playful words and impeccable acting.
She failed to keep calm after that.
“You knew didn’t you?” she accused scathingly, tossing the ancient scroll at him in the midst of her raging fury.
The Cardinal Alpha didn’t flinch in the least, choosing to rest his head against the cold stone with an annoyingly calm smirk on his lips.
The scroll’s fabric unfurled midair and slammed thunderously into the wall right by his relaxed head. It then bounced off the hard surface to lay innocently by his feet.
The entire cavern became quiet.
Before long, the playful expression on the Alpha’s face hardened in a threatening, almost predatory-like manner. And his citrine-colored eyes narrowed, diligently honing in on her pliant form like a cat would a mouse.
The world lost color for a split second.
Maya took a shaky gasp of breath, and her heart pounded violently within her chest. She silently watched as all his pretenses came shattering down in an array of wicked smirks and opalescent eyes.
Then, his hauntingly ominous chuckle resounded within the hollow depths of the cold chamber.
In response to his husky laugh, the hairs on the back of Maya’s neck stood on end and she couldn’t remove her gaze from the powerful male.
The golden-eyed Alpha looked like death and sin in a mix of lethally handsome features.
Brutally cold and mercilessly vicious.
This was the true Xavier Thaeos.
The notorious monster everyone feared like a deadly affliction.
What had she done?
“Did you really think I would let just anyone take my blood, little sorceress?” He chortled darkly, eyes crinkling in amusement at her surreal innocence.
Maya trembled.
Her fingers clenched tightly at her sides as a colliding sense of terror hit her like a storm over a shaky precipice.
Something in her head clicked.
Loud and clear.
“You did it on purpose,” she said through gritted teeth and a clenched jaw.
He had purposefully led her into this trap, purposefully led her into thinking his power was in his blood. And like desperate prey, she had taken the bait.
Hook, line, and sinker.
How awfully wrong could she be?
“I did,” came his haunting reply.
Maya wanted to rip the laughing smirk off his face with her bare hands. But she couldn’t do anything other than take several steps back. Her hand felt for the chair behind her before she sagged on the chilly wood and couldn’t will herself to stand back up.
Maya’s mind was whirling almost a hundred miles a minute, and she couldn’t calm the rapid pounding of her heart or the tremors racking her small frame.
“Then why did those other witches…” she hesitantly asked, afraid of the answer, yet waited for her assumptions to be confirmed.
A Cheshire grin split across his lips and white canines glinted menacingly in the light. “Because, my little sorceress, only mates can draw power from each other. Can you guess why you’re the only one who can drink my blood?”
Before Maya could comprehend what was happening, the chains keeping him captive crunched like sand in his fingers and fell off his wrists in a dilapidated heap.
Several seconds after that, the thick chains on his feet shattered and turned to tiny shimmering speckles of silver dust.
It took Maya a minute to realize the concentrated silver, having once burned his wrists in a mess of skin and bones, red and black, no longer harmed him like it had in the beginning.
How could she have forgotten this ritual was mutually beneficial for him and her?
Not only did silver become ineffective in detaining him, but so did all her other fatal spells and strong traps.
What made her possibly think a beast of his caliber could be caged and easily subdued with such meager attempts on her behalf?
Maya’s face became increasingly pale.
She was stunned.
“No,” she ground out through clenched teeth and a tight throat.
By the time she’d realized this was all his ploy to ensnare her in his devious trap, it was too late. She was currently cornered to the wall like a hopeless rodent before its mighty predator.
She had lost.
“So smart,” he complimented, chuckling deeply, darkly in response to her trembling visage. “Yet so very foolish.”
For her to think her modicum of restraints would have any effect on a being of his eminence was truly unwise. “But, little sorceress, there is one last step to the ritual.”
The Alpha slowly prowled to her side, languidly stretching his burly limbs for the very first time in hours.
As he stepped out of the barrier unharmed, his gargantuan aura expelled with tremendous force, shrewdly surrounding her within its cocoon of electric power and sheer dominance.
When he stood to full height, Maya abruptly realized how much taller and bigger he was compared to her.
He towered over her smaller form by over a head, and even his wrist was twice the size of her own.
Though the Alpha male was intimidating, Maya stood her ground and gritted her teeth before meeting his piercing gaze head-on.
Xavier grinned and had to applaud her for her bravery, for her ability to stand straight in front of his domineering form and stare him right in the eye.
This was something not many have done in the last few centuries. In fact, any who had attempted this stunt usually found their head decapitated from their body just before their eyes could meet his own.
His little mate was brave; he had to give her that.
“Aren’t you going to ask me, Maya?” He grinned down at her horror-stricken face, tasting her name on his lips, with an oddly pleased crinkle of his eyes. His thick arms laced around her slim waist, and he lifted his little sorceress off the chair until she stood on trembling legs that would not support her weight.
With a slight tug, her entire body stiffly pressed up against his broad chest.
Maya could hear his every heartbeat and smell his masculine scent as it drifted to her nose and surrounded all her senses with freshly cut wood and rain upon evergreen trees.
“No,” she replied stiffly, her voice a bare whisper of breath. Trepidation radiated off of her in thunderous waves.
Xavier inhaled the sharp, raw scent of fear completely engulfing her body.
It was ecstatic to his deprived senses and brought forth a feeling of disturbingly wicked delight.
His golden eyes lowered and warm hand clasped underneath her soft chin, tipping her pretty face up towards him. With his other hand settled at her waist, his long fingers stroked her through the thick fabric, as if he could feel her naked flesh against his palms.
I could easily crush her face in the palms of my hands, he thought. But I won’t.
He delicately traced her supple flesh with the pad of his thumb, running his finger repeatedly over her fragrant skin in small, circular patterns.
Maya swallowed thickly, feeling the heat coming from his big hands as it seeped through her cloak and sparked against her back like dancing electricity. She was frozen in her spot and her vision was clouded by the pleasurable tingl
es of his touch.
“Are you sure, little sorceress? We are so close to finishing this ritual. Just one last step and you would be able to permanently have my powers. Does that not tempt you?” he murmured, hot breath fanning across her pale cheeks. “This is just a small taste of what I can give you. Why quit when the prize is just within hand’s reach?”
Maya frowned deeply at his persistent coaxing. Her hands clenched into a tight fist again and her sharp nails dug little crescents into the skin of her palm.
Power was what he had and power was what she wanted. But was it enough for her to place herself on a golden platter and serve it to him?
No.
No, it was not.
The Cardinal Alpha’s vital affirmation had been the last nail in the coffin. It had awakened her from her elusive dream.
Before the dangerous Alpha could utter another word, Maya took a step back, almost out of his embrace, and smirked up at him with a vicious glare that promised vengeance for his trickery. Then, she disappeared in a cloudy swirl of thick black smoke.
And he let her.
As the dark mist cleared, a lazy smirk curled on the corners of the tall Alpha’s lips.
He inhaled deeply, taking in the residual traces of her wondrous scent still lingering in the aftermath of her presence, and brought his hand up towards his face. With a feral glow of his eyes, he languorously kissed her essence off the pads of his fingers.
Like most of his predecessors, Xavier enjoyed a good chase, thrived off of the lamed prey, and felt exalted from its fear and trepidation.
Though he wanted to give chase, he decided not to.
He was going to wait until she came to him on her own free will. Hopefully, sooner than later. But he had a feeling otherwise.
With the little time they’d spent together, he’d learned Maya was rather strong-willed. She wasn’t the type to give in or admit defeat. She would fight tooth and nail, broken and bloody, before the thought even crossed her mind. And then, she would still fight.
If he continued to corner her, she might just find a way to reverse the effects of the ritual and permanently hide from him.
Xavier didn’t dare to underestimate her.
Now that she had a portion of his powers to contend with, she would be a force to be reckoned with, if she chose to fight him head-on.
But he knew, come dawn tomorrow, she would be irrevocably his.
CHAPTER 10
Maya sighed deeply with a tight frown painted on her blood-red lips.
Now that she was back in the safety of her apartment, she had resorted to finding other answers to the escalating problems.
So far, she’d found nothing.
And as the hours crawled by, the cumbersome addiction made itself known again. It was constantly trying to taunt her, tickling and teasing until her mouth became incredibly dry with unfathomable thirst.
No matter how far the distance between Xavier Thaeos and her became, the scent of his blood remained vivid and enchanting to her currently enhanced senses.
It was gradually becoming stronger, as if he were standing right in front of her with blood dripping down his arms, waiting for her to take the bait. But she wasn’t going to fall for his trickery again.
Once was enough for her to learn her lesson.
“Maybe you should try to find something more addictive than his blood. Like food or drugs or alcohol—something,” Everette suggested, setting a bottle of hard whiskey on the coffee table.
The dark sorceress snorted, glancing at the glass bottle in moderate consideration.
Although Everette’s idea was quite logical, she knew it would not be favorable on her behalf. It was already hard enough trying to deny the strong urges to leap out of the window, find her way to the Cardinal Alpha and stab him with a dagger to drink his blood.
A cold smirk bloomed on her rose-petal lips at the awry imagery of repeatedly stabbing him in sadistic enjoyment.
But unfortunately, she didn’t really have to stab him. The bastard kept himself bleeding from the moment she’d left the cavern till now, probably in hopes of seeing her shamelessly crawl her way back to him.
Maya snorted in an unladylike manner.
He could wait all his damned immortal lifetime for all she cared, because that was never going to happen.
He would be a fool to think otherwise.
She had already embarrassed herself enough by fleeing like cornered prey before its vicious predator.
Maya wasn’t going to put her head back into the crocodile’s mouth, knowing it could chomp her face off at any given minute.
The consequences were far too grave for such brainless behavior.
“And become addicted to two things at once? Are you trying to help me or kill me, Everette?” Maya asked, raising a dainty brow.
“Just a suggestion,” Everette replied, shrugging her delicate shoulders. “Who knows, it might work.”
The dove-shifter set a glass cup down. She opened the bottle, poured the hard liquor into the cup, and handed it to the dark sorceress.
Without an ounce of hesitation, Maya quickly downed it in one breath, grimacing as the alcohol burned its way down her throat in an entirely different way than that of the Alpha’s blood.
It wasn’t pleasurable.
In fact, it was rather repugnant and bitter.
Regardless of it being water or liquor, nothing could quench the extremely agitating thirst accompanied by this despicable addiction. Had she known earlier, she wouldn’t have stupidly put her head into the noose and let him tighten it to his heart’s content.
Maya scoffed for the third time in remembrance of the Cardinal Alpha’s words.
What did he say they were again?
Oh, right.
Mates.
She frowned disdainfully at the disturbing term that brought an ugly snarl to her pillowy red lips. Just the thought was sickening in ways she didn’t know were possible.
It was highly deplorable, utterly repulsive, and despicably upsetting.
Who in their right mind would want to be bound to a werewolf for the rest of eternity?
That would be a cruel and unusual punishment for any female lucky enough to hit that pothole.
From her prior experience, Maya knew those were-creatures were only good at hurting others. They were dangerous, feral, and full of deceit.
How they were destined to have mates was beyond her.
“Have you tried asking Marion for help? I’m sure he could figure something out,” Everette asked, grabbing another glass cup from the cupboard for herself.
The dove-shifter picked up the whiskey bottle and poured herself a cup, sampling the taste on her tongue with a satisfied expression on her face.
It was a good thing she’d “borrowed” some alcohol from grandpa Druid’s liquor collection. At stressful times, it was always useful to get a little buzzed.
“He said he’d look for loopholes. But it doesn’t look too promising,” Maya replied calmly.
She wasn’t too bothered by the news, because she already knew the outcome.
Marion had adamantly tried to warn her, but she had stubbornly disregarded his wise words with a defiant tilt of her jaw. Now, she was regretting her choices and wished she had listened to him.
“Maybe you should get some sleep,” Everette suggested, noting the absent look on the sorceress’s pale face. Her red eyes skimmed over Maya’s trembling body as she suppressed a frown.
Maya nodded slowly in response and chugged down another cup of hard whiskey, hardly able to taste anything other than dry bitterness on her tongue.
“If I try to leave, you know what to do,” the sorceress stated. She placed another strong spell on the surface of her bedroom door before entering the room and leaving the dove to her whiskey.
Maya had spent the majority of her afternoon precariously crafting several spells to keep herself from leaving her apartment.
With the full moon coming tonight, this was the pinnacle of the
blood ritual’s effects. From what she’d read, the final step was to be completed on this very night, or else the ritual would become forfeit and lose its effects entirely.
Albeit Maya was quite saddened at the thought of losing his powers, she couldn’t help but feel slightly relieved.
At least she wouldn’t be chained and bound to him for the rest of eternity.
_______________________
In the darkness of the night, red slowly bled across the silver surface of the moon, gradually encompassing the bright and iridescent warmth with the color of blood.
From inside the quiet confines of her room, a dark sorceress laid fast asleep on her bed. She was strapped down by silver chains on her spindly wrists, like how a certain Alpha had been strapped against the cold wall of her cavern. For days.
As the red moon’s glow eerily seeped in through the closed curtains, her silken lashes fluttered and danced upon her porcelain cheeks. After a moment, her vibrant green eyes opened, glowing like lanterns in the dark. Desperate and needy from inconceivable agitation.
After a moment to gather her bearings, her face scrunched from the heavy pang of a mind-wrenching hunger settled deep inside her stomach, aching as it tried to claw its way out.
Looking down, Maya glared at the many seals plastered all across her body.
“Everette?” she called, voice husky and worn from her fitful slumber. Her green orbs glinted sharply with an animalistic craze and her long lashes barely hid the dark and vicious intentions.
After hearing the raspy call, Everette was quick to make an appearance outside Maya’s door. The dove was obviously alert and wary because of the serious situation.
Before the sorceress could ask, the dove-shifter explained, “You started sleepwalking, so I sealed you up.”
Everette’s voice was slightly muffled through the wood of the door.
“I need to use the bathroom,” Maya lied, heatedly staring at the doorknob to see if the dove was going to be thoughtless enough to break the spell and enter.
Everette hesitated, feeling oddly anxious and fearful, but she shrugged it off.
Maya was all tied up and sealed down.
Nothing could happen, she tried to reassure herself.
With her fingers settled against the cold doorknob, Everette peeled off the paper spell and opened the door to poke her head inside, glancing at the dark sorceress chained pathetically on the bed.
