by Meg Xuemei X
Without her, we were but empty shells.
Cassandra Saélihn had become our existence.
“Don’t lose yourselves,” I snarled at them. “If we do, our mate will be lost forever and locked in a cage. Calm yourself!”
We had been slow. The gods had moved three steps ahead of us. They’d lurked in the place we had thought the safest for our mate. They’d been among us the entire time. The sun god had been determined to steal Cass away from us.
I hadn’t cared that the high noon sun would burn me to ashes when I’d heard from Cass’s seer that my dulcis had been taken. I’d charged into the brilliant daylight only to find the sun could no longer burn me.
That was the greatest gift anyone could ever give to me, and my dulcis bestowed it on me after we bonded. I’d thought she was the fire and light from the sun I craved when I drank from her and claimed her. She was sunlight to me, and she literarily gave it to me.
I looked up at the sky, intense sunlight shining on my face for the first time, like fire licking me yet not scorching me. I should have felt great as I could now walk under the sun, but it was the worst day in my life.
While I gained such a divine gift, I lost my mate, who was my true sunshine and everything to me.
We hadn’t protected our mate.
My brothers roared in half-insanity.
For their sake, and for my dulcis’ sake, I needed to rein myself in with my iron will honed for an eon.
I would destroy the world to get her back. No, I’d destroy the gods, who had taken my mate.
“Brothers,” I growled. “We have work to do to get our mate back. It starts now. And we’ll get her back at all costs.”
Their roars shook the ground. We’d rain down hell on the fucking gods.
Just then, my heart stopped beating.
It would never beat again until we had our beloved mate back.
- Continue on book 3: A Court of Ice and Wind –
Coming in November 2018
Sign up to the author’s mailing list to hear about her new release, discounts, giveaways and fun stuff!
Join her group Meg’s Dark Realm for Readers.
Reviews are an author’s lifeblood. Please consider saying a few words about this book on Amazon if you enjoy the duet.
Review here.
THE DRAGONIAN’S WITCH
He abducts me to find his fated mate, unaware that I am she.
I am Freyja, the First Witch. I was born with a cruel curse: anyone I touch with my bare skin will die an agonizing death. That is, until a formidable, drop-dead gorgeous Dragonian prince invades my forest home.
The prince’s lust burns hot and bright for me, yet he resists, wanting his destined witch more. The oracle promises the witch will be his true queen and bring him the greatest kingdom on Earth. Knowing he’s the only man who can touch me, I crave his scorching caress. But I’ve sworn never to reveal that I am the witch. Not until he chooses me above her.
When the mating frenzy drives both of us to the brink of insanity, someone has to give, but it won’t be me.
Turn the page for a sneak peek of
The Dragonian’s Witch
CHAPTER 1
My Pack
My name is Freyja. No one knows I am the First Witch. Those who knew were eliminated twenty-one years ago—a year after the Fey Empress and her consort, the High Prince of All Angels, decapitated the sadistic Angel King, my biological father.
Unfortunately, a band of my father’s old elite sentinels escaped the High Prince’s purge. They found out I was the last of King Agro’s bloodline and slaughtered the whole village where I was born. My mother, a genetically advanced human, managed to hide me and fought to her last breath.
The Angels have been hunting me ever since.
I removed the hood that concealed my face and quickened my pace. The morning sun shone on my skin and the wind tousled my flaming red hair. Ahead, waves of tea rose swayed and golden sunlight spilled over the ancient treetops.
The howls of wolves reverberated through the forest, and my heart leapt. They were near. They’d caught my scent.
A large, white wolf shot out of the forest, and three others followed him.
I hurled myself toward them and they howled with delight.
We crashed into each other and I leapt onto the white wolf’s back, riding him. He put on a great show to shake me off while the rest of the pack spun around us. My gloved hands gripped the wolf’s muzzle firmly, holding him in place.
He snarled, but I didn’t let go. It wasn’t the first time he’d bared his teeth at me.
Surrender, Blaez! I said.
Blaez tumbled to the ground and rolled, aiming to pin me under his weight. I jumped away just in time. Lenka, Ty-Ohni, and Hó’nehe pounced on my ankles and tripped me, yipping with glee.
Lenka, a beautiful red she-wolf, nipped at my ribs, and Ty-Ohni had his mouth on my shoulder. He knew better than to get his teeth near my throat; I wouldn’t tolerate that. Hó’nehe resorted to dragging my leg keenly, wanting me to play tug-of-war.
I conjured a picture in my mind. I’ll stay. I won’t leave again for a long while.
Blaez rose, then stretched, his big head on his paws, and watched me like a philosopher.
I shoved away the pack that crowded me and rose to a crouch. I’ll bathe.
And then we play? Lenka asked.
It depends, I said as I ran into my forest.
My pack shot past me.
I laughed, but the sound died in my throat as wing-shaped shadows swept overhead.
Angel hunters!
My blood turned to ice.
They never gave up on their hunt, but they shouldn’t have found me so soon. I’d been in the human city Palmyra for less than three days. Now that I was with my wolves, the hunters should have lost track of me. In the past, being with my pack had blocked the Angels’ sight and kept me under their radar.
I looked up at the sky, my heart in my throat. My wolves howled in fury, sensing my distress.
But there were no Angel wings beating in the clear sky. I blew out a breath of relief. My nerves were playing tricks on my eyes.
Let’s go. Bath! I called my wolves.
Light danced with shadows, wind sent down sweet-smelling blossoms, and the sunlight on my face made me want to sing.
Lenka and Hó’nehe soared into the gem-like stream, not bothering to ask my permission or wait for me. But then, my pack wasn’t like any other pack. They had a hybrid as their alpha.
Ty-Ohni stood guard and Blaez padded quietly beside me. He was moody, but I wouldn’t concern myself with his brooding. I needed to wash off my weariness, the grime, and the human scent.
I unfastened my cloak and tossed it onto a rock by the spring before I extracted a knife from my boot and dropped it on the ground. I did the same with the other two daggers strapped to either side of my legs. Earthling weapons couldn’t harm an Angel, but mine had been forged in the Angels’ homeland and could bleed them.
I’d stolen the first dagger, obtained the second from an Angel hunter who had nearly killed me before I sent him to Earth hell, and bought the third on the black market.
My eyes flicked to my tight leather gloves. I only took them off when I bathed. If anyone were to touch my bare skin, they’d die in agony.
Only my wolves were somehow immune, but I was still careful with them and tried not to touch them without my gloves. My bare touch didn’t drain their life force as it did other beings, but it weakened them.
I was the First Witch. I carried the curse of death touch.
I tugged at the glove on my index finger, ready to pull it off. Blaez, who had been watching my every move, turned his head and snarled.
Invaders! Ty-Ohni broke off toward the east.
Blaez raced after him. Lenka and Hó’nehe leapt out of the stream and shook the water off their shining furs, which splattered all over me, before charging after the white wolf.
Panic seared through my throat. The wings that h
ad cast shadows over me hadn’t been a trick of my mind. The hunters had found me.
Angels were the mightiest, cruelest of all alien species. They’d once conquered our planet in two weeks. I didn’t expect to escape this time. My wolves would defend me to their last breath, but they were also my weakness when it came to battling the Archangels.
I could slip away right now to preserve myself.
I returned my crescent moon-shaped knife to my boot and shook my head in disgust at my cowardly thought as I picked up the other twin daggers on the forest floor.
I couldn’t hide forever.
I wouldn’t.
I removed my gloves, stuffing them in my pocket, and dashed after my pack. My consciousness pushed forward into Blaez’s.
Through his eyes, colors burst in front of me. Everything became super focused and vivid, yet everything—the trees, bushes, and blossoms— blurred past at his blinding speed.
Blaez, I called, lead the pack away.
Never, he answered. We defend you!
The Angel hunters are too dangerous, I said.
We’re more, he growled, as if I had hurled an insult at him.
The wolves rushed toward the threat without fear or reservation.
So, this was the showdown between me and my enemies.
The hunters’ silhouettes appeared in my field of sight.
CHAPTER 2
The Dragonian
Seven! the grey wolf, Ty-Ohni, reported. Dinner or snack?
Seven against the five of us.
They would feast on my pack if they killed us all, but I didn’t tell my brave wolves that. I didn’t want to hurt their feelings.
The first foe tore into my vision. He wasn’t an Angel—he had no wings—but that didn’t lessen the dread in me, especially when I saw how fast he moved.
In an instant, he grabbed my beta’s head, his hard face a foot from Blaez’s. He was a Dragonian warrior, yet not a pure blood.
The Dragonians were an engineering race. Hairless and blue-skinned, their eyes were cat-like, luminous. One of their tribes even had horns.
This Dragonian had light brown skin and lush hair. His amber eyes were fierce like a tiger’s and they shone in the stream of sunlight.
Metal plates clasped his broad shoulders and forearms, but his herculean upper arms were exposed. They were thicker than my thighs. His sculpted armor was like a second skin and couldn’t conceal his muscled chest.
He was a half blood. His Dragonian father must have mated with an advanced human woman.
Blaez’s eyes bulged under the pressure of the Dragonian’s strong hand clutched on his throat, but that didn’t diminish his hate-filled glare.
My wolves wouldn’t stand a chance in this fight.
Peeling my mind off Blaez, I roared and flung a dagger.
It flew toward the Dragonian’s eye like dark lightning. I’d never missed a target and didn’t expect it to flounder this time either.
The Dragonian hurled Blaez away and the white wolf hit a high branch before falling to the ground. The Dragonian raised his armored forearm and blocked my dagger.
The rest of my pack crashed into the other men. Teeth and paws against punches and kicks.
I charged toward the Dragonian, my remaining two daggers clutched in my hands.
He withdrew a steel barbell from his waist, twisting the middle, and the barbell lengthened from both ends. He spun it like a fucking showman. When I reached him and thrust my dagger toward his heart after a clever feign, he parried it easily.
A surge of rage beat within me.
He evaded my ferocious slashes, wielding his steel to meet my twin daggers, jumping back as if to play nice before lunging at me again.
He moved like a lithe leopard, which consumed me with envy and made me angrier.
“By the way,” he called toward his companions casually in Earth’s native tongue. “Don’t kill the wolves.” His bright gaze searched my face.
There was nothing for him to see except my dark, blue eyes spitting fury and my flaming red hair tangled in the wind.
He was their leader.
He’d ordered his gang not to kill my pack.
Just as the knots in my stomach loosened a little, he added, “Not yet,” studying me with amusement and a hint of fascination.
Well then, I would just have to amuse and fascinate him.
I tossed a dagger toward his neck as I lurched at him, my other dagger stabbing toward his heart. But before I’d blinked, my daggers fell to the forest floor.
I was weaponless.
I staggered back, snarling, and he gave me a taunting smirk.
I was no match for his brutal strength. However, if I could get close enough to touch him with my bare hand, I would end him nicely.
My pack wasn’t faring any better. The brutes threw Ty-Ohni and Hó’nehe into the air as if they were toys, but I was pleased to see my wolves had left a few impressive bites on the vulnerable parts of their limbs.
A horned Dragonian had his massive arm tightly around Lenka’s neck and his other hand locked her jaw. One snap and he could break the she-wolf’s neck. The nasty Dragonian was only waiting for an order from their ringleader.
“Let her go!” I demanded in the common language.
“So, you can talk,” the ringleader said with a hint of mirth in his voice.
Did he really think I was a beast girl?
At my outrageous look, he flashed a grin—all even white teeth—that aimed to daze me. But he’d targeted the wrong woman. I was never easily dazed.
I regarded him with a cold calculation.
He was over seven feet tall. All his men were. They proved to be formidable hunters, and he was the most fearsome.
He eased his pose, but only appeared more dominant. My eyes dipped down to his muscular legs, half covered by his sculpted, asymmetrical armor, then his metal shin guards, then his military boots.
This one liked to show off his magnificent body.
Did I say magnificent?
When I tore my gaze from his sexy, powerful torso back to his face, I found his eyes turning molten gold.
He liked what he saw.
I bared my teeth and hissed, but my mind worked quickly to seek an exit for my pack and me.
I’d been on the receiving end of his explosive strength and violence. I’d seen that he could have easily delivered a death blow to my wolves, yet he’d held back. He’d also hinted that he reserved the rights to murder us.
I scanned the rest of his gang: four pure-blood Dragonians, one shifter, and one advanced human.
Humans were divided into three subcategories: genetically advanced humans, average humans, and sub-humans that were closer to apes.
None of the gang had used a weapon against my pack, though they carried all sorts: angelic blades, mechanic bows, and phasers that they must have gotten from dead Angels during the war of Earth against the Heavens.
They could have just passed by my forest and decided to fight.
Blaez, Ty-Ohni, and Hó’nehe charged back toward the invaders as soon as they recovered. I threw a hand at them and put a mental leash to stop them.
They halted but snarled furiously.
Back off, I ordered.
Why? they barked.
To live another day, I said.
We want to have their big bones for snack!
Sounds awesome, but not today, I said. Today, we’re cunning and patient.
My wolves stopped growling and laughed.
We’re cunning and patient, they agreed and allotted the snacks among themselves.
Blaez insisted on having the ringleader, who kept staring at me with such intensity it made my body feel alight with heat. The Dragonian hadn’t missed a beat on my mental exchange with my wolves.
I stabbed a finger at the horned Dragonian, who still held the she-wolf captive. “Let my wolf go now if you want to walk out of my forest alive.”
“Your forest?” asked the horned Dragonian.
“Call its name and see if the forest answers you,” the horned one said.
My wolves bared their teeth and snarled viciously in a show of loyalty and support.
Laugh lines jumped at the corner of their leader’s eyes. Did he think this was funny? Did he think we were a joke? He wouldn’t think so if I had a chance to cup his face with my bare hand and inflict pain on him no mortal could sustain.
Cup his face? It suddenly occurred to me how striking his features were when his amber eyes brightened like that.
The horned Dragonian still held Lenka.
My fingers twitched, but I had no dagger to throw at him. I unfastened the steel chain from around my waist and dropped it at my feet to show them that I was completely unarmed.
The gang looked a bit surprised at my sudden change of behavior.
This trick had always worked in the past. As soon as the enemies believed I was surrendering, I struck. No one expected me to be the weapon.
I would approach the half-blood ringleader first. He would allow me near since I’d just showed him I was weaponless and thus harmless. I would bestow a gentle touch on him. When he fell to his knees in agony, his warriors would rush to investigate. I would use his corpse as a shield and take down the next prey.
My wolves would attack at the same time.
Not all of them would live through this, but if these men were determined to toy with us before killing us, then it was the only way to go. I would bring down their leader and take a few others with me.
“Ask nicely, wolf girl,” the leader said before I made it halfway toward him, “and we’ll release your pet.”
My pet? I was glad that Lenka couldn’t understand him.
“Sure, I’ll ask nicely,” I purred with a sweet smile reserved for my enemies. And I can give you an even nicer touch. “Would you let her go, please?”
