Angel in chains
The forever yours series
Book 1
Nellie C. Lind
Angel in chains
Series: Forever yours - Book 1
Copyright © Nellie C. Lind 2014
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
This e-book may not be reproduced or shared in any way without the author's written permission. The e-book is a work of fiction. Characters, names, places and incidents are the product of the author's imagination.
ISBN: 978-91-980980-4-4
Cover by Nellie C. Lind
Website: www.nellieclind.webs.com
Blog: www.nellie-c-lind.blogspot.se
NOTE: This book is not suitable for readers under 16.
Book description
The last thing Inez expected to find inside the cave that appeared from nowhere was a chained angel, but there he was, tall, beautiful and making her heart beat like never before.
When Inez entered the cave Aledyan first thought that he imagined her. He has been a warlock's prisoner for over two hundred years, but she could end his torments and set him free, if he played his cards right. Would he be able to go through with it? Would he be able to hurt her, knowing also that she was his one true love?
PROLOGUE
1794
The screams of anger and frustration that came from the cave sounded like music in the warlock's ears. He smiled viciously when he realized that he had won. Nothing could stop him now.
“How long is he going to be in there?” One of his men asked.
He looked at the young warlock before he turned his gaze toward the other who stood silently beside him. They were amateurs and still had a lot to learn, but he knew that they would make him proud one day. They had already put a smile on his face. Helping him capture this creature had given them a higher rank in his coven.
“For as long as I want to live,” he answered.
Chapter 1
2014
“What the ...” Inez said to herself and couldn't believe her own eyes.
A cave entrance had just appeared out of nowhere on the flat mountain wall in front of her. At first a grey fog had been there, and it had drawn her attention. She had never seen anything like it. The fog had become darker and darker until it somehow transformed itself into the cave entrance. Now she was staring at it, wondering if she had gone crazy.
Inez stood near the forest path and studied the mountain that was as tall as a ten storey building. She was the only witness to this peculiar event. Wherever she looked she saw nothing but grass, rocks and trees. She was in the middle of nowhere in one of Sweden's many forests, and knew she wouldn't encounter any people for several days. Hiking was her way of taking a break from the everyday life. She had been walking for several hours by now, just enjoying the mild summer day.
And then this had happened.
Even if her mind told her to run she couldn't help but be curious. She should stay away, but her feet left the path and moved her closer and closer the cave entrance. Her heart was beating fast, and she was breathing hard. The mountain looked natural, but there was nothing natural about the cave, she was sure of it. A cave didn't just appear out of nowhere.
Several minutes passed by while Inez stood and stared. She had expected to see darkness, but torches hung on both sides of the stone walls, lighting up a long tunnel. It was almost as if the cave expected someone.
She didn't know what to think about the torches either. Fire normally burned in red and orange colors, but these flames were purple.
Slowly Inez approached one of them and felt no heat from it. From this distance, she should be able to, but there was none, not even when she stretched out her hand and placed it as close to the purple flame as she dared. She was curious about what would happen if she touched it, but took a step back instead. She didn't want to end up as a pile of ashes on the ground.
Inez turned her gaze toward the deep stone tunnel that lay before her. Someone, or something, was likely to be in there.
She stayed put and waited to see if anything would happen, but nothing did. No one or nothing seemed eager to leave the cave, or to enter it. The forest was peaceful, and the birds she heard nearby didn't seem to be bothered by the cave's appearance at all.
She took a deep breath and shifted the backpack on her back before she took a few hesitant steps forward. She almost expected to be attacked any second by some prehistoric creature, or something else. Nothing good could come from a cave that screamed magic, but her feet kept moving her forward, and before she knew it she was inside. She had always known that her curiosity would one day be the death of her, but she had never believed that the day was already here.
Her breathing echoed off the walls. She placed a hand on her mouth so that her sounds didn't give her away to whatever was at the end of the tunnel. She even tried to walk quietly, but the echoes from her footsteps were impossible to silence completely. Her presence was most likely already known.
The tunnel seemed to be lit all the way, but at the end she found herself facing a huge open area with hardly any torches. Sand covered the ground, and large shadows were all over the place. Apart from that it looked empty. A prehistoric creature would not fit in here. At least not one of the bigger ones. The ceiling wasn't high enough.
Inez breathed out and felt a little bit disappointed. She had expected to find something.
She turned around and was about to leave when a sound caught her ears. She gasped and her body tensed. She couldn't tell what she had heard, but it had been a dragging sound.
She had misjudged this strange cave.
Someone, or something, was in here.
For a second she thought about running and not looking back, but at the same time she wanted to know. Something told her that whatever was hiding in here would have killed her by now if it wanted her dead.
Her eyes strained and searched through the shadows. They went big when she noticed something huge move around. A chill went through her body. There was a sound of rattling chains, and something heavy was yet again dragging on the ground. She strained her eyes ever more to see better, and slowly they adapted to the poor light.
It didn't take her long to realize that it wasn't a something that stood in the shadows. It was a “someone”.
And that someone stared right back at her.
It was a man but she could not take a look at him until his slow step into the light revealed a part of himself.
He was huge, around six feet five she guessed, with dark hair. It seemed like he hadn't seen the sun for centuries. All he had on was a pair of short pants, but the cold inside the cave didn't seem to bother him. Green eyes looked at her, first with surprise, then with determination. He had a face that would make any woman turn around, and all she could do was stare at his beautiful face, and then at his toned body. She saw that he had no shoes and his feet were dirty from the sand.
Then Inez noticed something that made her heart drop. Around his wrists, she saw heavy chains, and the skin under them was red and irritated.
She should be afraid. She should run. Instead, she felt sympathy for this man, whoever he was. Pain was written all over his face and body. He looked tired. Old scars decorated his arms and chest. Had he tried to hurt himself, or had someone put them there?
“Um ... Hi ...” she said nervously, feeling silly. That wasn't what she had intended to say, but the man didn't move. He kept watching her.
She started to feel uncomfortable when his gaze swept over her. It was as if he couldn't believe that she was there. Something told her that he had been in here for a long time, and maybe she was the first person he had seen in many years.
Then he took another step
forward, and by doing so he stepped out from the shadows. Her eyes fell on the huge wings that hung down his back toward the ground. The wings must have been white once. Now they were dirty, and they looked useless, or maybe too heavy for him to lift. The sight almost brought tears to her eyes.
“Oh, my God,” she said and covered her mouth with her hand.
Yet again he didn't move, but his gaze never left her. Confusion and sadness along with anger was written all over his face, and it started to scare her. The appearance of his wings made her realize that it wasn't a man who stood in front of her.
He was an angel, or a demon!
The last thought scared her. Slowly she started to back away toward the exit.
“Please,” he said suddenly. “Don't go.”
Chapter 2
Inez froze where she stood. Her gaze met his once more, and it felt like minutes passed by while they watched each other. The sorrow in his beautiful eyes was clear, begging her to stay. She had never seen so much loneliness before.
“Don't go,” he said again.
She studied him from where she stood, not willing to come any closer. Her eyes followed the chains, and she noticed that they were attached to the cave wall behind him. They looked heavy and old, but strong enough to keep him from escaping. Their length made it possible for him to move around inside the cave.
“Who are you?” she asked.
Her heart was beating fast. She was barely able to control her breathing. If he decided to take one step closer she would run, and he seemed aware of it. At first he stood tense. His jaws and fists were clenched. Inez got the feeling that he would scream if she ran.
“Aledyan,” he answered.
“Aledyan? Is that your name?”
He nodded.
“Why are you here, Aledyan? What is this place?”
He sighed, and lowered his head before he took a few steps back. When the distance between them increased Inez relaxed, but she kept her back toward the tunnel that led out from the cave, just in case. He didn't scare her, strangely enough. Honestly, she couldn't believe or understand why she still was inside the cave, talking with him instead of running for her life.
Maybe it was the sadness in his eyes that made her stay.
“I understand that this is confusing for you,” he said.
“The cave appeared from nowhere.”
He sat down with his back against the wall and with his wings clumsily spread on each side of him. He grimaced when he moved them, and a loud groan of pain left his mouth. He looked tired and vulnerable.
“Yes, it does that every ten years,” he said and exhaled heavily.
His eyes were shut, and he seemed to be relaxing. His wings lay completely still. Maybe a simple move would cause him more pain, and Inez wondered if his wings were broken. Something was wrong with them.
Aledyan opened his eyes and looked at her for a long time. His gaze examined her face and her hair before he gazed at her body. It made her blush because he seemed to like what he was seeing. His grin told her so, along with the way his eyes seemed to burn with an inner light when he looked her over. Inez knew she didn't look that bad, but she was definitely no eye-turner. That she was certain of.
“It's nice to see a pretty face again. I haven't talked with anyone in a long time.”
Inez cleared her throat and pulled a hand through her chestnut colored hair. No man had ever looked at her the way he did now, but at the same time he wasn't a regular man. He was something else, and it seemed as if he starved for company. There was also something else, something she couldn't explain, but for some reason she felt drawn to him.
Whatever it was that Aledyan seemed to like about her looks she hoped he was smart enough to understand that sweet-talk wouldn't make her help him with his situation. She was sure that was the reason as to why he asked her to stay. Before, trusting a man had given her headaches she had never asked for. Neither her father, brother or ex-boyfriend had been anything to cheer about.
“How long have you been in here?”
“Depends on what year it is,” he answered.
“It's 2014.”
“Oh,” he said and went silent for a while. “After the first few decades I started to lose track of time. I stopped counting every time the cave opened.” Aledyan lowered his head and looked at his wings, gently touching one of the dirty feathers. “They must have stopped looking for me by now.”
Inez didn't know who he was talking about, but she assumed he meant his friends and family. Something told her that they weren't human either, and were probably still alive somewhere.
“Apparently, I have been in here for two hundred and twenty years.”
Inez gasped. “Alone?”
“Yes. It can drive a man crazy sitting in silence and darkness for such a long time. All you hear are the echoes from your own voice.”
“You don't look crazy to me.”
Aledyan smiled. “That's a very kind thing for you to say.”
Being alone for so many years had probably messed with his mind, but so far she hadn't seen any signs of that. Instead, she saw a sad and depressed man, and for some reason she wanted to find out why he was in here.
Chapter 3
Aledyan looked at the shy but curious girl who stood not so far away from him. At first sight, he had thought that she was an illusion and that his head had finally started to mess with him once and for all. But as soon as she spoke he realized that she was real, and now she was keeping her distance, just in case, and talking with him.
It felt so good to talk with someone again, to hear an answer to his words. It warmed his heart, and a calmness swept over him. Her presence made him happier, and if he played his cards right he would finally be able to leave this place. If he managed to get out of here, there would be hell to pay for the ones who placed him in here. He could already feel the sweet revenge building up inside him.
Humans had never really interested him. Before this had happened, he had only thought about his work and never paying them any attention. He had only spoken with a human once or twice before, but now everything was different. This human girl could be the key to his freedom, and he knew what he needed to do to get it. But would he be able to go against everything he stood for? And yet there was something about her, something he couldn't place, but it pulled him like a magnet toward her. One look at her had been enough to make his heart race.
She didn't look old, maybe twenty five, or thereabout. Sweet and furtive blue eyes watched him, once she dared to look at him that is. Her nervousness was obvious, and he understood why. She had never seen any of his kind before. Most humans believed that angels only existed in fairytales, if they believed at all. It was like that on the day he was captured, and he doubted that much had changed during these two hundred years he had been in here.
Funny enough, but he found her attractive. He had never in his wildest dreams believed that he would one day find a human attractive, but there she was, and her curious gaze sent a pleasant chill through him. Her body was fit, but small. She barely reached his shoulders, and he wondered what it would feel like to touch her long, chestnut colored hair that hung beautifully down one of her shoulders.
He became still when he realized what had just crossed his mind. His captivity was definitely starting to get to him.
“What's your name?” he asked.
“Inez,” she answered. “What's wrong with your wings?”
He smiled and looked at her while her name slowly sank in.
Inez.
He liked it.
“It's a long story,” he answered.
“I'm not going anywhere.”
He gave her a surprised look. Did she really intend to stay? She had just met him, and the way she kept her distance proved that she didn't feel comfortable around him. He didn't expect her to either. He would keep his distance too if it had been the other way around.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because you're obviously in trouble. I
want to know why.”
Apparently, her curiosity won over her fear and shyness. That was a good thing, for him.
“Aren't you afraid of being trapped in here?”
She winced as she turned her head toward the cave's exit. Light still came from it.
“Don't worry,” Aledyan said. “It will remain open for a few days. You still have time to leave.”
Inez looked at him. “I will not leave; not yet anyway.”
That was a good sign, but concern for her safety awakened within him. She was the one who could help him out of his misery, and he didn't want any harm to come to her, but he knew what was coming. It would soon begin again. Hopefully he had enough time to get to know her, and make her trust him.
Chapter 4
Inez couldn't believe she had just told him that she was staying. It just slipped out of her mouth, and now that it was said she couldn't take it back. For some reason, she didn't want to either. There was something about him that made her feel as if she had to stay. It had nothing to do with his good looks. It was because of something else. Just the thought of leaving him alone in here and letting the cave disappear with him inside for yet another ten years filled her with sorrow.
“Will you tell me about your wings then?” she asked.
“I would rather talk about you first.”
She gave him a surprised look. “Me? Why do you want to talk about me?”
“What were you doing before you saw the cave?” he asked without answering her question.
“I was hiking. I do that from time to time when the weather is fine and to get away from ... things.” She lowered her head. Telling him about herself was maybe not such a good idea. She still didn't know who or what he was.
“What things?” he wondered.
Angel in chains (Forever yours) Page 1
