by Meg Xuemei X
“Return me to him or take me to Mysth,” I said.
The witch rolled her eyes. “Now you start demanding, too, little one?”
“Little one?” I said outrageously. “You’re my age!”
She gave me her wicked laughter. “Never challenge me again, little witch of Earth.”
“Try me—” I said, but I didn’t even get to finish that at her dismissive wave of a hand.
A blink, and I stood with Ares on Ventus.
Ares steadied me and pulled me right into his arms in a bone-crashing embrace, and ThunderSong vanished in a flash.
We settled back in our seats with me sitting on his lap as the guardians headed back to our camp.
“I can’t . . . breathe,” I said. “Your arms are too tight.”
Ares loosened his grip only a little. “You were gone,” he said, his voice shaky, his nostrils flaring. “They took you from me. Next time when I meet them I’ll kill them!”
Merlin had said that Ares would always be fiercely protective of me. He couldn’t fight his primal instinct to shield his mate. The mating bond had marked me as his. However, Ares didn’t have the magical eye, and I doubted if he realized it at all. His mind had been clouded ever since the Oracle had embedded the idea in his head that only the First Witch was his destined mate. To him, I would always be the wolf girl who would lead him to the witch.
“They aren’t our enemies,” I said, pulling away from him a little to talk sense into him. “They destroyed the Insurgent for us.”
“They tried to steal you from me!”
I bet he thought everything was his.
“I returned to you, didn’t I?” I offered.
He pressed me possessively against his chest again.
“What did they say to you?” he asked.
“They let me borrow a gift,” I said, showing him the bracelet.
He frowned at it.
“They took you just to give you a silver bracelet?” This time he drew me back a few inches to peek into my eyes. We really had trust issues with each other despite that we’d had an incredible hot sex less than an hour ago.
I shrugged. “They’re rich and nice.”
I wouldn’t tell him about the wicked witch from another world, which would make him think of his own witch.
“They don’t look slightly nice to me,” he said. “If you like jewelry, you can have every piece in my palace.”
This bracelet wasn’t for showing off. Fia had warned me of never taking it off.
“Is there anything else you haven’t told me about, Freyja?” Ares asked, leaning in, and his intoxicating male scent filled my nostrils and heated my blood.
Ares rubbed his stubble against my face. “What did you hold back this time?”
I knew he would ask about the mark on my wrist eventually.
“I was marked at birth,” I said. “With that, I can go to Mysth to ask for the cure.”
“Who marked you?”
“My mother,” I said. “She died protecting me when the Angels came hunting me.”
I immediately regretted of my slip of tongue. I was less guarded with Ares now.
“What about your father?”
“He died after I was conceived.”
“Do you know who he was?”
“How could I know? I was only a baby when my mother was gone.”
“I’m sorry, Freyja,” he said, stroking my hair. “You have me. You have us now.”
There were no us when he turned to seek the witch again.
“Why did the Angels hunt you?” he asked. “What do they want from you?”
There we go again.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I told you they’re psychos, monsters.”
“You know but you refuse to share the information with me. Eye-patch swore to come for you with the Dark Lord’s legion. The Angels won’t bring such a formidable army to just hunt some nobody earthling.”
Eye-patch also threatened to gut Ares in front of me when he returned, and now I started to fear for Ares’ life as much as I feared for mine. Damn the Dragonian prince! He’d brought out all sorts of intense, complicated emotions in me. Life had been simpler before he’d invaded my forest and abducted me.
“You need to let me in so I can best protect you,” Ares said. “What can I do to earn your trust, Freyja?”
I swallowed. I’d told him more than I’d told anyone else, but I couldn’t let him know the whole truth. Truth would never set me free. It would cost me everything. If Ares knew I was the only daughter of the Angel King, he would do more than push me away from his warm chest and look at me in disgust.
To distract him, I had to prey on his protective instinct. I brushed my cheek against his chin. “Ares, I’m cold and hungry after this new ordeal,” I whined. “I haven’t had lunch.”
He gazed down at me with a sigh, “I’ll go hunting,” and wrapped both arms around me to lend me his warrior’s body heat.
CHAPTER 11
Mating Call
We left the camp hastily after we had a quick meal. Ares wanted the guardians to fly us straight toward Mysth without taking too many breaks. However, his plan wasn’t realistic. Ignis and Glacies hadn’t fully recovered from the wounds they had sustained in the fight against the Angels.
When a host of snowy mountains were far behind us, we flew across the war zone. The humans and centaurs had halted fire temporarily. They couldn’t spot us at the height we were flying at.
Ares didn’t talk much, though his arm was around my waist. He hadn’t mentioned a word about his witch. Actually, he’d been trying to avoid the topic, but I knew she was still between us, constantly between us.
Whenever Caen looked at me, his eyes were full of enmity, and I offered him a sharp smile each time. I needed to watch out for that one, he was the type who would stab me in the back.
After we passed the war zone, Ares’ expression darkened. He hadn’t had this kind of gloomy mood before we’d fucked. He was probably regretting screwing me. He must have thought that one act on lust had cost him a kingdom, but I couldn’t tell him everything the Oracle had told him was lies.
I was the First Witch. But how could I bring him the greatest kingdom on Earth when I couldn’t even save myself from my curse and my grandfather’s legion?
I couldn’t bear to see the bitterness on his face if he finally found out that I was the First Witch. He’d pictured how majestic she was. He’d even prayed she was the opposite of me.
Even if he accepted me for who I was, I wasn’t a fool to believe we would share a future. He was the Dragonian prince and heir, and I’d never been groomed to be the royalty. I would never fit into his complicated, political life.
I was an uncivilized wolf girl in everyone’s eyes, or the witch everyone would come to hunt if they knew about my other heritage.
But if he thought I would settle for being his concubine, he was seriously mistaken.
Freyja, Ventus called in my head and jerked me out of my brooding.
What? I asked.
So this is it? he asked.
This is what?
My brothers and I are going to close the bet.
What bet, exactly?
You and the prince get together and he knows who you really are in the end.
We’re not together.
You slept with him.
Like that means anything? Seriously? How many woman has he slept with? I bet even you’ve lost count. I’m just one of the faces in the crowd.
And now I’d become one of the women he bedded and would soon discard after he met his witch. However, he’d already met her but didn’t know she was me. And he’d already fucked me—the witch.
This sounded like a total fuck-up.
“Freyja,” Ares called me after his long silence.
“What?”
“What are you thinking?”
“Nothing.”
“You never think nothing. You little head is always plotting. What are you scheming
now?”
“Tell me, Prince,” I asked. “Is it easy to command the pure-blood Dragonians? Can they truly accept you?”
“They’ll have to,” Ares said, studying me to detect which direction I’d mislead him to. He demanded I trust him, yet he couldn’t set an example himself.
It took two to dance.
“My race can’t further evolve because of our genetic limitations,” he said. “I’m their future. As a hybrid, I’m faster, stronger, and brighter. And when the witch finally joins me—”
He stopped. Seemed like I wasn’t the only one who spoke too much.
I hadn’t expected that comment to hurt so much, as if he’d stabbed me right in my heart with an angelblade. And I was shocked by my reaction. I’d known from the beginning he would always want her more than me and I’d told myself it wouldn’t bother me.
She was his future, and I was his few nights of entertainment.
“I didn’t mean—” he said, then stopped himself again.
Of course he meant what he said.
“I don’t give a damn,” I said. “All we had were a few quick fucks to blow off the steam. They meant nothing.”
He growled.
“When you have your witch and we part our ways,” I added, “we won’t even remember each other. I’ll forget you just as quickly as you forget me.”
A guttural, threatening sound rumbled from his chest.
I ignored my bleeding heart and kept my voice even and carefree. “So, Prince,” I asked, “why did Commander North Darken only make you the heir eighteen years ago? Why not earlier?”
“He made me the heir after he had no better candidates. Is that what you meant?”
“I meant no offense,” I said.
It seemed our words always got twisted, but now, after we had slept together, they seemed to have more power to hurt each other.
Ares sighed. “It’s common knowledge that my father coveted the Fey Empress ever since he’d first laid eyes upon her. She was a princess back then and her emperor father sold her to the Angel King. She sought my father out for an alliance to take down the Angels. My father believed that she would finally choose him. He wanted their offspring to be the heir, but the Fey Empress mated with the High Prince of All Angels. When my father saw all hope of interbreeding with the Fey had faded, he married my mother, a tribal princess of the advanced humans, and I turned from a bastard to the legitimate heir overnight.”
“Why didn’t your father choose any of your brothers? Don’t the Dragonians prefer a pure-blood prince to be their next king?” I asked. “Why give the future throne to a hybrid?”
“My father is a visionary and a revolutionist. He and his scientists collected and studied the genetic makeup of all species and found the advanced humans’ genes were superior to any other mortals’ on Earth. He believed that the humans were Earth’s future. As you can see, with how fast humans breed and evolve. He mated with my mother to guarantee the superiority gene in me, in his offspring.”
Commander North Darken also used the lab to enhance his heir’s DNA, so Ares was more than any mixed advanced humans and Dragonians. Save Fey, Ares was probably the most advanced specimen on Earth.
“My father hopes I’ll rule both humans and Dragonians when he passes,” Ares added.
And they believed that with the First Witch joining the hybrid prince, their ambition would be reality. Only they hadn’t expected me, the wolf girl, to come along.
Which men could turn away from such a dream and a promise? My anger and bitterness toward Ares ebbed.
“Merlin said humans would take over Earth,” I said. “The Fey would fade away.”
“The immortals live in a different realm than us,” Ares said. “Their magic is only strong in the Twilight Realm. There’s no magic on the mortal land.”
The world had shifted, as the druid had said.
“Magic is coming to the mortal land,” I said.
I was the First Witch and Merlin the First Druid. If I could manage to have offspring, they would inherit my magic and spread it. That was what Merlin had meant that I was the beginning.
I’d never thought that would be possible before, but since Ares could touch me, he could sire my children. I brushed at that thought, and in response, lust swirled alive in me again and clung to me like vines. Warmth pooled between my thighs and my mound was slick with need.
Though his clouded mind couldn’t perceive our mating bound, his primal instinct could sense it. Ares tightened his grip on me.
His huge erection pricked against my bottom, and his arm voluntarily moved up until his hand was on my swollen breast.
The mating call grew louder, brighter.
Even though I was on the guardian’s back, all I wanted to go on fours and raise my rear for him to fuck me from behind. Or I could stay where I was and just haul off my pants and get his cock inside me.
I blinked, shaking my mind out of its lust-filled stupor.
Damn the mating instinct! I thought one fuck would get it out of my system, but the mating frenzy had just started.
I turned to glance at Ares.
He also looked like he wanted to mount me right there, right then, in the high air.
Our reasons were weakening.
His body trembled at his restraint.
We’d made a mistake mating in the tent. How were we going to resist the frenzied call of lust and passion? Even the rapid, chilly current slamming into our faces couldn’t cool the heat in our blood.
“How close are we to the shifters’ territory, Ventus?” Ares asked through his clenched teeth.
He wanted to land.
I held a hope that we could find a secluded place and fuck again. Maybe next time we could get it out of our system.
“Two more miles, Your Highness,” said Ventus.
Ares grunted, but he knew it would be cruel to push the wounded guardians to fly faster.
With the mating fire scorching us, the two miles felt like two hundred acres.
CHAPTER 12
The Healer
Ares’ hands groped at my breasts, his every touch stoking lustful fire higher and higher in me. Until I couldn’t bear it.
My mound grew slicker with burning need. I was going to explode if he didn’t get his cock inside me within the next second. But there was no chance of that happening for the next hour. This kind of torment was unlike any other.
A majestic castle loomed beneath.
An assembly of armed warriors gathered in the courtyard, looking up at us on alert. Ares unwillingly abandoned his exploration of my body. I didn’t protest, though my body wasn’t thrilled—despite the crowd below, its carnal need remained urgent.
“Who are they?” I asked, failing to expel the heat from my voice.
“They’re Lucas’ people,” Ares said, endeavoring to gather himself together.
“Are they all shifters?”
“Most of them are,” Ares said. “A few of them are hybrids like me. They’re my allies. The biggest, scary-looking warrior among them is Ulmar, the pack Alpha.”
“Ventus looks scarier than him,” I said.
“Thank you for calling me a nightmare,” Ventus snapped.
“I’m the girl riding the nightmare. I’m in league with you,” I said, twisting my torso to see where Lucas was just as Ignis dove toward the ground.
Lucas would want to talk to his people first.
The Alpha waved at the air. That was his permission for us to land inside the castle.
Ares leapt off the guardian’s back and landed gracefully before Ventus touched down.
Don’t you want to show off in front of the new people as well, Freyja? Ventus asked.
Nay. I said. I like people underestimating me.
So you can trick them and strike them harder?
Not harder, but fatally, I said.
Lucas was talking to his Alpha intensely, and the other warriors surrounded them.
Ares strode toward them in his confident,
powerful gaits. Einarr and the other three Dragonians flanked him, and no one laid their hands on their weapons.
I was left behind. I slowly climbed off Ventus and groomed the beast while watching the shifters from the corner of my eyes.
The shifter stopped asking Lucas questions and turned to Ares. A few of them glanced in my direction, found nothing too impressive, and no longer paid us any mind. They must have seen the flying alligators before, so they didn’t look alarmed.
As for me, I had my cloak covering half my face. I was shorter and more slender than any of the warriors and seemingly posed no threat to them. The only odd thing about me was I wore gloves, but the shifters didn’t know why, so they didn’t care much.
Ulmer and Ares crossed their forearms in greeting.
“I have terrible news from Atlantis, Prince Darken,” Ulmer said.
I pricked my ears to listen.
Ares remained cool. “What is it, Alpha Ulmer? I left home for four months.”
After being ambushed by the mercenary army hired by his half-brother, the prince and his men had discarded their communication devices, thanks to my brilliant, free counsel.
“My informants reported back two days ago that Commander North Darken is on his death bed,” Ulmer said. “A power bid has started in Atlantis. The word on the street is that your pure-breed brothers are taking control of the capital. Your generals have sent words to every post across the continents to ask you to return to Atlantis at once.”
I turned toward them.
Ares looked across the space and met my gaze, his face sullen, his eyes dark. He would need to return to Atlantis, so here was where we would say goodbye. My heart clenched at this turn of events. I hadn’t expected to part with him so soon. I might never see him again.
“Let’s go to my quarters, Prince,” said Ulmer. “We need to talk alone.”
Ares tore his gaze from me. The alpha and the prince treaded toward the main stone stairs that led up to the Alpha’s quarters in the castle.
A few shifters came around to arrange accommodation for the guardians and us.
Lucas headed straight toward me. “Come with me, Freyja.”
