by Meg Xuemei X
“What else?” I snarled like my wolves. “I’m not warm enough.” I strolled past him toward the fireplace.
I sat beside the bench and put my hands near the flame.
The rain slashed at the windows over our silence.
Ares approached me from behind, and my body tensed.
He put a small table near the fireplace. “The stew will warm you up,” he said.
I picked up the bowl and spooned lamb stew into my mouth. I didn’t thank him. Why should I? If he wanted me to find his witch for him, feeding me and keeping me warm needed to be his top priorities.
His witch? Then what was I? After half of the stew went down to my stomach, my mood improved significantly. I had to separate myself from the First Witch to protect my sanity.
Freyja was no longer the First Witch, and the First Witch was Ares’ bitch. He’d rejected me twice because he wanted her more.
Lust set me ablaze whenever I was him, and I knew he had no intention of acting on his desire, because he didn’t want to—what were the words?—screw up his own future.
It would be hell to continue on this journey with him. I thought I could use his resources to get to Mysth. I was wrong. If I kept him around, the wicked lust would drive me mad before I reached the Fey realm.
I placed the empty bowl on the table. I didn’t ask him if he’d eaten.
“Prince Darken,” I said. “I need to go shopping in Amathus tomorrow. I need more traveling clothes.”
“I said I’d get you more tomorrow,” he said. He sat on the other side of the room, polishing his sword. He didn’t spare me so much as a glance. “I’ll send your other clothing to be laundered tonight.”
“I don’t want you or your men to pick my clothes,” I said.
“What’s the problem?” he said, now looking hard at me. “You wore the ones from the druid just fine.”
“Merlin knows my taste.”
“Then I’ll have Einarr buy the same style.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Are you trying to lock me up by not letting me go anywhere other than the seat on Ignis’ back?”
“The fewer people see you, the safer,” he said. “The druid said you were being hunted. Who hunts you, Freyja?” He studied me darkly. “I won’t let them near you and sabotage my plan.”
Right. I would lead him to his witch—his future. After that, he wouldn’t care if the hunters got me or not.
“Do you know who they are?” he asked softly now. “Has anyone ever hunted you before?”
I kept a bored look. “Yes,” I said.
“I’ll cut them down before they lay a finger on you again.” He shot up from his chair, a death threat glittering in his eyes, and a ring of crimson formed around his irises. “Who are they?”
“You and your minions.”
He gave me a long look before frowning. “I thought we’d put this behind us. You find me the First Witch, then you can do whatever you want and go wherever you desire.”
That was all he ever cared about.
“If you want me to put this behind us, let me shop for my own clothes. I also need some feminine stuff. I use only the brand I used before.” Over his resigned look, I added, “You do realize that I’m a female who has delicate needs, right?”
“Fine, I’ll go with you,” he finally said.
“No! You don’t need to come,” I said.
He regarded me suspiciously.
“You’re the great Prince Darken,” I said. “You don’t accompany a woman on an errand.” I paused. “Or do you often do that?”
“Never,” he said. “But this is different. You’re the path—”
“—to your future, to your witch,” I finished his sentence for him. “I got it. Still, there’s no need for you to come with me.”
“I don’t want any hunters to find you,” he said.
“Your three Dragonian followers will guard me. It’ll be just a couple of hours of shopping.”
A light flashed in his eyes. I knew what he was thinking. I usually asked for Lucas, but since I would ditch the prince and his lot forever tomorrow, I had no intention of dragging Lucas down. As for whatever punishment those Dragonians would suffer after they lost me, I wouldn’t give a rat’s ass.
“I’ll guard you,” he insisted.
He would grow more suspicious if I kept protesting.
“Suit yourself,” I said with a shrug. “But be warned: shopping with a female like me can get very boring and tedious.”
He snorted. “Nothing with you is boring,” then caught himself and huffed. “Just try not to make any more trouble tomorrow, as it’s what you do the best.”
“You wear me down, too, Dragonian,” I said. “So I’m going to call it a night.”
The truth was that I couldn’t stand staying longer with him in the same room. I was still so aroused. His potent presence, intoxicating scent, and male body filled my mind. I had to constantly get myself in check, so I wouldn’t jump him.
I strode toward the bedchamber, and his heated gaze followed me. Every moment he saw me, he wanted me, but he wouldn’t have me because he coveted the First Witch more than anyone and anything. Even when he had had his cock inside me, he still stopped at the last second.
The only way for me to have him was to tell him who I really was, but I was also stubborn. He would never have my truth.
I’d be gone forever tomorrow.
I listened to the wind and the rainstorm, unable to sleep. At some point before I dozed off, I heard a knock on the door of the outer suite.
Lucas was there, asking about me.
“She’s resting,” Ares said. “Go watch the night.”
“Why are you doing this, Ares?” Lucas said quietly.
“Doing what?” Ares said.
“Try to keep her for yourself,” said Lucas. “She isn’t yours and you’ll have another soon. Are you using her as a backup until you find your mate?”
“Careful, shifter,” Ares snarled. “I’m not using her for anything other than finding my witch. After I have my fated mate in my arms, if you still want the wolf girl, be my guest. But not before that. I need her to stay focused, and I won’t let anyone fuck up my plans!”
Keep debasing and bruising me, asshole. I squeezed my eyes tight against my thoughts.
It would be easy to get lost in a human city like Amathus.
CHAPTER 15
The Noblewoman
In the morning, while I was having breakfast in the suite, the tavern’s servant boy brought back my clean outfits. He stared at me until Ares growled at him, then the boy bowed in terror and escaped.
“Let him look,” I said, sipping my tea. “What harm can it do? He just hasn’t seen anyone with my kind of red hair.”
“The fewer people see you or remember you, the better,” he said. “Your safety is my priority.”
Until the First Witch joined him in their joyful union.
“I’m very touched, Prince,” I said, rising to get my clothes.
“When are you going to let go of your grudge?” he asked quietly. “Why can’t you see it from another angle?”
I stopped at the bathroom door and looked at him over my shoulder before I slowly turned. Whenever he thought I wasn’t looking, he stared at me as if I were the candy he could never have. That was damn right, because I wouldn’t offer him the third time.
“Enlighten me,” I said.
“I rescued you from the wilderness,” he said. “I’ve opened many opportunities for you. You can’t see now but you will one day.”
I sneered, then curtsied, as my mother had used to do before the monstrous Angel King and the Fey Empress. “Your Highness, I’m forever grateful for the opportunities.”
He growled, then stopped and stared at my breasts with ravenous need.
My robe had opened in the front as I curtsied. I tugged it tightly around me, gave him a contemptuous look before turning and entering the bathing room, and kicked the door shut behind me.
~
>
Amathus was nothing like technologically advanced Atlantis, or a diverse metropolis like Babylon, but it wasn’t the backwoods either. Humans rebuilt it after the Angels’ war, and no mortal war had touched it. Not yet.
Ares brought only Einarr with us. The Dragonians wouldn’t be able to blend in, and normal humans didn’t like other races all that much. Lucas could merge into the human society easily as well, but Ares had sent him on other errands. I suspected that Ares just didn’t want the shifter around me.
Einarr didn’t stay close to us as Ares and I wound our way through the crowd.
I wore the fine travel clothes Merlin gave me, the cloak covering half of my face, and gloves tight on my hands. If I toned down the aggressive grace I carried, I could pass as a regular human. Ares, however, was a completely different case.
It didn’t matter that he didn’t put on his sculpted armor, his size and powerful build already made him stand out, and the natural menace and raw energy rolling off him and saturating the air made it even worse. He looked handsome in his faded trousers, white shirt, and long trench coat.
His face was always feral and serious if not lustful. He never bothered to mellow it. But I doubted he could succeed if he tried. Even his smile left a predatory imprint.
No wonder the crowd gave him a wide berth, instinctively sensing a ravenous lion among the sheep.
“You’re like a lighted beacon,” I said. “You should just let Einarr go with me instead of drawing all the attention.”
“Complaining again, Freyja?” he asked, scowling at whoever glanced in our direction, and the humans averted their gazes hastily.
“See, no problem here,” he said. “No one’s bothering us.”
We passed one shop after another. The crowd thinned. Ares became impatient, which showed he was definitely not the type to go shopping with his female companions.
“What’s wrong with those shops?” he asked.
“I don’t like their styles,” I said.
“They look fine,” he said. “We don’t have the whole day to fool around. If you don’t pick one in the next three minutes, I’ll drag you into a shop to get what you want and get out of here. I don’t give a rat’s ass about styles.”
“Because you have no style,” I said.
I soon spotted a quiet alley, which led to another busier market. It was odd that no one walked through this passage to the other end, as if it spelled more than just danger. We were strangers in this city, so we couldn’t know a cursed, forbidden place, and I wouldn’t care much. Danger could kick Ares’ ass, and I would walk away.
I strode into the alley.
“I knew this would happen,” I said. “You should have let Lucas come with me so you don’t need to keep nagging me on everything I do. Lucas is the opposite of you. He’s very amiable and pleasant to be around.”
“Since you mentioned the shifter,” Ares said acidly, “try not to mislead him.”
I blinked. “What? Mislead Lucas? How would I do that?”
“You tell me. I’ve been watching you two. You’re giving him the wrong ideas.”
“What kind of wrong ideas?” I asked, anger and curiosity both rising in me.
“You’re flirting with him every chance you get. If I didn’t tell him to back off, he’d have taken you as his mate, and that’ll be disastrous for all of us.”
“How will it be disastrous?” I asked in outrage. “And who is everyone? What’s the big deal with Lucas taking me as his future mate?”
I knew the mating thing would never happen between Lucas and me. Even if I wanted him, he would never be able to touch me and live. I just wanted to drive Ares mad. The humiliation from our encounter at Merlin’s cabin still clung to my heart and I wanted him to feel the same pain I was feeling.
“Because you can’t be his mate!”
“Why not? Who dictates that? Lucas and I are both adults and available. Whether, when, or where I fuck Lucas is no one’s business.”
“You want to fuck Lucas?” he asked incredulously and viciously.
I glared at him defiantly. “There’s nothing you can do about it.”
Red sparks glittered in his golden eyes. In his jealous rage, Ares lunged and grabbed my shoulders, shaking me hard. “You’ll not fuck anyone on my watch!”
He wouldn’t have me, yet he didn’t want anyone else to have me. This was the most selfish asshole I’d ever met!
I hissed. “Try me. I’ll fuck whoever I want.”
He roared in fury. “I’ve suffered enough of your attitude. I’m the future ruler of the great Dragonian race. No one has showed me such contempt, except you. But I won’t suffer yours either.”
He spun me around and almost slammed me to the stone wall. In a second, he had both of my wrists in his large hand and pinned them up over my head.
I didn’t struggle. I knew a predator always preferred a squirming prey.
Besides, I was curious to know what he was going to do to me next.
His hard body pressed against my back.
He threw down my hood and breathed into my hair; his strong aroused male scent enveloped me like a midnight net. I had no intention of escaping from it.
We both panted hard.
Even in his anger, he didn’t know how to punish me. His mouth lowered to the hollow of my shoulder blade and his lips assaulted my skin.
And just like that, my body was on fire. My eyelids lowered from the intense rush of lust. A moan of pleasure fled my parted lips. I arched my neck to the side to let him have a full access.
He didn’t waste it. His hot lips traced up along the column of my neck, the tip of his tongue hitting my every sensual spot. He branded his kisses on my skin with such hunger and passion that I believed I would combust.
I begged for more.
His erection prodded the curve of my ass, his heat, enticing and distracting, searing my skin through my pants. Gasping, I swayed my hips and propelled backwards to rub his groin.
My shame and anger became a distant memory and lust gripped me mercilessly.
Ares groaned and thrust his hardness toward me and grinded on me. I wanted his cock to be inside me. I desperately wanted it driving deep inside me to expel the twenty-two-years of empty ache.
Ares moved his hand to my front and slithered up my clothes, cupping my full breast and squeezing it hard. I threw my head back and leaned against his shoulder.
His lips wrapped around my earlobe and his teeth nipped it.
“What am I going to do with you?” he said hoarsely. “You set me on fire every second of the day like no other. The very sight of you tortures me. You constantly challenge my destiny. If I give up now, I’ll lose everything. I’ve never wanted anyone as I want you. I wonder if I’ll even feel this way for the First Witch when I finally meet her. Freyja, you’ve stolen something from me and I can’t get it back.”
“Then take something from me,” I whispered. “Take me. Just don’t think of the future for now. Moments are all we can have.”
His rough hand yanked my pants down to my knees.
We were in the alley; anyone could walk in on us, but I didn’t care. My body wanted him more than anything. It didn’t want to be denied again.
Ares let go of my wrists. He tweaked my nipple between the thumb and forefinger of his left hand; his other hand stroked my sex. I was wet and ready. I was at the peak of the liquid fire.
A deep, rumbling sound vibrated from his chest. His hand left my breast and pulled out his cock. Its silky, hot, and hard crown rubbed against the curve of my ass, then between my thighs. I could feel the moisture on the slit of his shaft.
I lifted a leg and pushed my hips backward toward him to let him enter me from either behind or sideways.
A hot steel rod nudged at my entrance.
I purred, swaying my ass impatiently. I wanted his cock now.
No more foreplay. I needed him inside me. His touch was the fire of drugs that had turned me into a junkie. I urgently needed to rele
ase the storm of sexual energy in me.
Ares stilled behind me.
“Just fuck me, Ares,” I hissed. “What are you waiting for?”
That only got him to pull away from me. His ragged breath told me how torn he was.
“I want to bury my cock deep inside you more than anything,” he said. “I want to fuck you like there’s no tomorrow. I want to make you mine.” He let out a string of cusses. “But I can’t do it.”
“You can’t?” I said roughly. “You’re as horny as I am. You’re rock hard.”
“I won’t,” he said. “I must be faithful to the First Witch.”
“You’ve already touched me. Your cock was inside me the other night. It felt good, didn’t it? So what’s the big deal? Just finish what we started. I’ve told you I wouldn’t say a thing. No one ever needs to know. Let’s just fuck this once and get it out of our system.”
With a growl, he aimed his cock between my folds again. Then with a long, explosive thrust, he drove deep inside me to the hilt. I cried in pain and extreme pleasure.
Liquid fire erupted from between my thighs and spread, lighting my every cell like wildfire.
I moaned and he groaned in intense pleasure. He drove hard and fast inside me, and I moved my hips back to meet his every powerful, delicious thrust.
Ares pinned my hips to stop my moving.
“If I finish this,” he said painfully, “I’ll fail her. You’re the fire in my blood. You called out the primal male need in me, but you aren’t her. This will be the last time I’ll ever touch you.”
He drew out of me.
The fire in me screamed, and an empty ache struck me like hail. I almost told him who I truly was to get him back inside me. I needed him to finish it. But I didn’t whisper a word. Even if I told him now that I was the witch, he wouldn’t believe me. He’d only disparage me for being willing to say and do anything to be screwed. He would brand me as an imposter and a liar before walking away.
“Damn you to the seventh hell, Darken!” I cursed, pulling my pants back up. I wheeled toward him in a blinding rage and kicked him in the calf, but to no avail. It was as if my foot rammed into hard marble. I snarled. If I had an angelic blade, I would have rammed it into his fucking heart.
