by Meg Xuemei X
I stalked to their table, and the men ceased their debate and focused on me. Ever since I had gotten through the ward and the druid had displayed interest in me, my companions kept sending me alarmed glances as if I’d suddenly grown two heads.
“What do you want?” Tyrone asked.
“To give you sorry lot some pointers so you won’t spend the whole night boring me to tears with your laughable theories,” I said.
“We didn’t ask for your opinion,” he said.
“She can have her opinion,” Ares said, “whenever she likes.”
I gave him a lopsided smile, though it never reached my eyes. “Thank you, Your Highness.”
Something bright flickered in Ares’ eyes, and he regarded me carefully, intensively, trying to discern any deception on my face. My face grew warm at his gaze. I didn’t like the way my body reacted to him.
I seized the last roll of bread and snatched up a string of grapes.
“She came for food with an excuse,” Boomer said as if he were a wise guy.
“I don’t need an excuse to get my share of food,” I said. “And it’s not your bread.”
“Don’t take their bait, Freyja,” Lucas encouraged me with a warm smile. “I’d love to hear your thoughts. Even Merlin respects you.” The last comment was for the Dragonians’s benefits.
The shifter had nice, white, even teeth, unlike the Dragonians—except for Ares, his teeth were magnificent.
My smile toward Lucas turned sweeter. Ares looked at me and Lucas, his expression darkening.
“Always look for the simplest solution,” I told the group. “If you really don’t want the bounty hunters to find your next lair, you’d better get rid of all of your communication devices or any tracking gadgets. Your race loves fancy inventions, but they’ll lead you to your death. Another tip: if you’re looking for a mole, look no further. He has to be among you. I’m not one of you, and I never will be.”
They all gawked at me.
With a growl, Tyrone lashed out. “How dare you!”
Dragonians didn’t care about hitting a woman.
Before his punch could latch on my face, Ares grabbed Tyrone’s wrist. The prince was faster than anyone I’d met.
Lucas rose from his chair. “Hit her again, and you’ll make me your mortal enemy.”
“Don’t you see what she’s been doing?” Tyrone said with loathing in his voice. “She’s driving a wedge between us.” He looked up at his prince. “Will you allow a human girl to talk to us that way? She hasn’t shown you any respect either, Your Highness.”
Racial hatred was nothing new on Earth, but this Dragonian’s enmity toward me was illogical. I hoped he would want to settle a score with me in private. I knew he would come for me someday.
Come, I called to him, wishing my witch power could drill the summoning into his head, and I’ll show you how fun it will be. My pack knew I wasn’t merciful to my enemies. I wouldn’t mind burning him with a touch and acquiring his dirty secrets.
I took my bread and grapes and returned to my table. I sank onto the bench, tore a piece of bread, dipped it into my broth and inserted it into my mouth. At the same time, I watched the group, curious to see how this would end.
“Tyrone, apologize to Freyja,” Ares said, his hand still gripping the horned Dragonian’s wrist. I’d thought my actions throughout the day had enraged Ares, but his demeanor toward me was nothing compared to what I was seeing now.
It was as if Prince Darken wouldn’t allow anyone except himself to be mean to me.
“What’s the wench to you?” Tyrone spat.
Ares’ iron grip tightened and Tyrone winced at the force.
“She’ll lead me to my future,” said Ares. “She’s my interest, and I protect my interest.”
“She can’t find your mate for you, Ares,” Tyrone said. “She’s a fraud and a lowly beast girl. The bitch might even have slept with one of her wolves.”
Ares snarled and attacked, lightning fast. In a blink of an eye, Tyrone flew from the table and crashed into the opposite wall. If Merlin hadn’t warded his house with magic, the wall would have caved in and collapsed. Ares was at the offender’s side in an instant.
Tyrone lowered his head to the ground in a show of submission.
The rest of the gang looked stunned at the sudden explosion of violence among themselves. They jumped away from the chair collectively, swords drawn. One word from their prince, and they would end Tyrone’s life. Ares commanded absolute loyalty.
Ares clutched Tyrone’s neck and lifted him up as if the warrior was weightless. The Dragonian’s feet dangled in the air and his horns grew darker. He didn’t struggle, but he waved his hand in surrender. After a few seconds, he choked out a few words. “Won’t . . . happen . . . again.”
“Too late,” Ares said in a cold rage. “If you hadn’t served me loyally in the past, I would end you today. Get out of my sight and don’t ever let me see you again.”
The unspoken line was: the next time I see you, I’ll kill you.
Ares tossed the horned Dragonian across the room and out of the open kitchen window.
I heard a heavy thud and a groan as he landed on the ground outside. A few seconds later, he staggered away from the house.
I didn’t jump up and down in cheers. I was astonished. Despite the fact that Tyrone had insulted me horribly, it was an extreme act for the prince to cast out his warrior for a half-human girl that meant nothing to him.
Maybe I wasn’t nothing to him? Hadn’t he said I would lead him to his future? And Tyrone had said that his prince believed the First Witch was his destined mate. I was the First Witch. So perhaps Ares’ primal male instinct sensed his mate, even though his mind was slow to catch up. So instinctively, he had the fierce need to protect me. He had to go extremes to defend his female.
No, no, no. That was stupid logic.
How could I be his mate? I would be the death of him if he ever touched me. My brain short-circuited for a minute. The prince shouldn’t have started looking for the witch in the first place. The Oracle had screwed him over big time.
Ares’ dark gaze fell on me, and something fluttered in my stomach.
I tossed a grape into my mouth, only to find that I made a grave mistake. The grape got stuck in my windpipe. I tried to call for help, but couldn’t make a sound. I couldn’t breathe. As I attempted to cough it out, the fruit sealed my airway completely.
I clutched my throat. Fate! After all I’d gone through, a tiny grape would do me in.
The next second, both Ares and Lucas were at my side. Ares shoved Lucas away and wrapped an arm around my chest. He leaned me forward and delivered a blow between my shoulder blades with the heel of his hand.
I hoped he knew what he was doing.
One blow, and two, and nothing came out of me.
I was suffocating. I was going to die if he didn’t get the grape out of me in the next second.
Tears streamed down my face.
“Come on!” Ares roared. His arm pressed tightly around my chest. With his third, hard blow on my back, the grape shot out of my mouth.
Ares let out a sigh of relief. I inhaled a deep breath of air into my lungs, grateful for being alive. Even after my breathing evened, he still held me. His arm left my chest and sneaked around my waist protectively, possessively.
I was suddenly hyperaware of the electrifying feel of being in his arms.
He pulled me tightly against his chest, eliminating any space between us, and leaned over to inhale my scent. I was only glad that my hood still concealed half of my face and my blush.
“Feeling better now?” he asked, his voice hoarse with tenderness.
My hands pried his arm from around my waist, though my body protested and wanted it to stay. “You can let me go now, Your Highness.”
Lucas stepped in front of me and swallowed in relief. “Freyja, you scared me half to death. Your face turned all purple.” He made a move toward me, as if wanting to pull my hood of
f and touch my face to make sure I was safe, but Ares wheeled me around to face himself. “What is it with you?” he said. “I didn’t toss you out of the window.”
If only he had.
Then all things would be simpler.
CHAPTER 11
His Touch
After supper, Ares ordered his men to stay in the front cabin and stand guard during the night. He and I would share the guesthouse behind the main house.
Lucas darted a glance between his leader and me. He looked like he wanted to say something, but then he clenched his jaw and headed toward the cabin.
“There are plenty of cabins around,” I said, despite Ares’ foul mood. “I’ll take the pink one in the middle. Alone.”
“So you can sneak out in the middle of night?” he asked. “Is that your other escape plan?”
“No!” I said. “How could I slip through your fingers with your men watching me like hawks?” I looked up at him through my lashes. “I just want some privacy, please. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”
“Batting your eyes at me won’t achieve a damn thing,” he said. “Many women did that much more skillfully than you and still failed to impress me. And yes, it’s too much to ask after you pulled that stunt earlier.”
“I was hungry and exhausted and scared,” I said. “I wasn’t exactly thinking straight.”
“Hungry and exhausted, sure,” he snorted, “but scared? Playing damsel-in-distress won’t work either. If you’re looking for sympathy, start looking somewhere else.”
He stalked toward the white house in the back, and I trailed after him reluctantly. As soon as I entered the house, I realized it was smaller inside than it looked from outside. It had only one bedchamber.
I glanced at cushions on the sitting room. “I’ll crash here.”
“No, you’ll sleep in the bedroom, as will I,” he said.
I jumped. “Are you kidding me? What do you take me for?”
He gave me a darkly amused look. “What do you think I take you for?”
“I’m not sleeping with you!”
“You don’t have much experience with men, do you?”
“That’s not your concern,” I hissed. “And for your information, you have no idea of the rich, vast experiences I have. I ride men like—”
“Like what?” he asked in genuine curiosity.
“That’s also my business,” I said haughtily. “I’m just not riding you. Not interested at all.”
“You lie easily about everything else,” he said. “But when it comes to the affairs of men and women, you’re a bad liar.” He dragged a large cushion onto the bedroom. “You can take the bed, and I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“Why do we have to share a room?”
“You think I’ll give you another chance to sneak away after I spent four months finding you?” At my outrageous look, he added, “You haven’t earned my trust. Other kidnappers would tie you with ropes or chain you, but I wouldn’t want to do that. So suck it up.”
I kicked my boots off a bit too forcefully and fell onto the bed without any grace.
“Good night,” I said. “Try not to molest me.”
There was no need to remind him of that. If he tried to do something to me while I slept, he would only send himself to a painful death.
“You have no discipline, Freyja,” he said, starting to unload his weapons and carefully lay them beside the cushion, which stayed between my bed and the door. “But you’ll learn. Discipline is basic for a soldier.”
“I’m not a soldier,” I said, “and definitely not yours.”
“You are now,” he said. “You’re a member of my team, so act like one. First, you’ll need to earn back our trust and respect.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I said. “When did I agree to be recruited? And I don’t want your trust or whatever. I don’t even care if you like me or not.”
“That’s a bad attitude, Freyja,” he said. “That attitude will get you nowhere. For your own benefit, think smarter and get your act together. The sooner you lead me to the First Witch, the quicker you’ll get what you want.”
I huffed, then suddenly realized that Ares had found a way to irk me and have fun with it.
“I owe you nothing,” I said.
He shrugged. “You can argue about it all night if you want, but it won’t change a thing. I caught you, so you’re at my mercy. You should think hard about how to make amends after what you did today. I didn't blame you for insisting on a bath in the middle of nowhere and attracting the assassin army. If any of my men had died because of your impulsiveness and ruthlessness, their blood would’ve been on your hands. I haven’t decided what to do with you, but you should know every action has a consequence, as I’ve warned you.”
I was too tired to worry about that at the moment. I wouldn’t care if he beat me to death now. Exhaustion could do that to people. I bit my bottom lip. “What if I never find her?”
“Oh, Freyja, you will,” he said. “You don’t want to be stuck with me forever, or do you, my darling Freyja? Though I’m not an immortal, my lifespan can reach thousands of years. I can be really patient, but can you? Do you want to waste your shining youth on me while I drag you around on the road all the time? You won’t always have a warm bed and a full belly. And danger will look you in your pretty face at every turn. One of my half-brothers will always send more bounty hunters my way, and you’re in my close company.” He slanted a glance at me with satisfaction at my sour look. “And that should be your motivation.”
He pried off his wrist plates and flexed his arms; they were large and rippled with hard muscles. He started removing the sculpted armor that fit his body like a second skin.
As the armor came off and dropped to the ground, the prince was bare to the narrow waist.
The lamp light gave his massive shoulders an enticing, even mystery finish. It would be a nice spot to lay my head. I blinked out of my trance, but I was still staring at his hard chest. My awed gaze involuntarily dipped to his firm stomach and lower.
I could see a trail of dark hair, alluring and erotic and all male, disappearing into his undergarments. It left much to the imagination. His powerful legs were all muscle, too. Without doubt, it would be solid to sit on. At the thought, every cell in me swirled alive.
The room seemed too small now to hold both the huge Dragonian prince and me.
I inhaled for air. “Prince Darken,” I said, “what do you think you’re doing?”
Ares suddenly registered my existence in the corner and raised an eyebrow. “Getting ready for bed,” he said, gesturing at my clothes that covered every inch of me. “You should do the same. It’s late.”
“You realize that you’re half-naked?” I asked.
“I like to sleep completely naked.”
An alarm bell went off in my head. I had never seen a naked man before. This would be terrible. “You can’t do that!” I cried.
“Why?” He looked confused. “Is there a rule against sleeping nude?”
I bit my lip before I explained. “You realize that you’re a male and I’m a female?”
“Yeah, so?”
I waved a hand exasperatedly. “There’re social rules. Ever heard of the concept of propriety?”
He folded his arms across his chest. My gaze glued to his torso and my heart pounded.
“Do explain,” he said, as if he had the entire night to listen.
“When a man and a woman who aren’t involved share a room,” I said, and then I was out of words because he started laughing so hard.
This whole time he was just poking fun at me. I couldn’t keep track of when he had changed his demeanor toward me. He’d been a storm not long ago.
His hard exterior melted like frost in the flame.
“I thought you wouldn’t mind,” he said with a smirk, “since you’ve had rich, vast experiences with men. You rode them like what?”
My face burned hot.
“And you were ogling me thi
s whole time,” he continued, a striking grin brightening his face. “Like what you see, Freyja?”
He flirted easily, obviously believing he was entitled to female worship.
“I wasn’t checking you out,” I said coolly.
He arched a brow. “No?”
“I was merely studying the work of art and science.” I gestured at him from head to toe. “There’s room for improvement.”
He frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“An ordinary eye sees that you have perfect proportions and great strength,” I said with a regretful sigh. “However, I see what no one else can see.”
He looked at me, not convinced, but stopped going nude.
“I am the only one who saw the garden’s magical ward and spotted the flaw of its design,” I said, “so I could pass through the entrance by exploiting its weakness.” That was bullshit, but the prince didn’t know that. “Perfect beings are rare.” I motioned him, preying on his insecurity since I knew no sane person felt completely secure. “For example, you.” I stalked over to him and let my gaze rover over his body as if studying an object. “Your imperfection lies in the length of your arms.”
“What?” he asked incredulously, his eyebrows coming together in displeasure.
“If they’re zero point seventy-nine inches shorter, you’d be the perfect specimen.”
“That’s silly,” he said, but he scrutinized his arms. He lifted them and bent at the elbows to make them slightly shorter.
I smirked. “See what I meant?”
“You know nothing about me, wolf girl,” he growled, not taking my criticism well.
I returned to my soft, full-sized bed and leaned back lazily, my feet crossed.
“You weren’t merely born of the union of Commander North Darken and an advanced human female,” I purred. “Your father was all about superior gene and evolution. He mated with a strong, blue-blood female human to reproduce you. The moment you were born, you were sent to the lab for further genetic enhancement.”
“How do you know that?” he asked.
