by Siren Allen
“If you’re hers, why do you flirt with so many women? Like my mate, for instance?”
“I only flirt. I never touch.”
“Yeah, right. You usually reek of perfume.”
“Because women like to hug me. I hug back. That’s it. I haven’t slept with another woman since the day I realized.... My mate was my mate.”
He’d almost slipped up and said his mate’s name.
“I talk too much when I chat with you,” Rhen said before taking a sip of his liquored-up blood beverage.
“Same here.” Kaede stared down into his cup. “What did you and Sil talk about?”
“Why do you keep asking me that?”
“It’s my fault The Deciders will soon send someone here. I need to be prepared.”
“We got this. Trust...”
“I don’t.”
“Listen, Kaede, leave this to the professionals. My team and I have been on TD’s radar for years. And we’re still alive. Let us protect the village. You focus on protecting your mate and that fancy compound you got back there.”
“I want in on the plan.”
Rhen sighed. “Sil said you wouldn’t leave it up to us.”
“She knows me well.”
“Listen up. The Deciders are deceitful bastards. They use whoever they can. And once they can no longer use them, they discard them. Either they kill them or they harvest their abilities.”
“What does that have to do with the impending attack?”
“I’m getting there. If they find a killer who’s extremely good, they try to keep them active for as long as possible. They give them hard task. You know, like the ones given to you.”
Kaede gritted his teeth. “You’re saying, they’ve been using me up?”
“Yes. They’ve been milking you dry. In the end, when you’re of no use to them or when you catch on to their bullshit, they plan to slaughter you.”
Kaede’s grip tightened around his cup.
“Grip that any harder and it’s going to crack,” Rhen told him.
“Is that what happened to you?”
Rhen nodded. “I was tasked with finding a woman who was a threat to TD. It wasn’t a capture and contain order. It was a kill order.” Rhen stared down into his cup.
Kaede could see the pain on the vampire’s face. He’d talked to Rhen about his mate before. But Rhen never went into details. Kaede couldn’t help but wonder if he’d do so now.
“I wanted out of this place. I wanted to return home. I wanted to see my younger sisters. They were only kids when I was cursed here. I wanted to see my mom. I wanted...” Rhen cleared his throat. “I was willing to do anything to get back home.”
Like us, his dragon chimed in.
“Indeed.”
“I tried to kidnap her. She fought back. I mean, really fought back. My mate is extremely powerful and deadly. Almost killed me. So, I bit her. But she jerked away and I ended up coming away with a huge chunk of her neck. I’d tasted her blood. It was unlike anything I’d ever tasted before. It made me high.”
“Blood lust.”
“You’d think in my old age I would’ve experienced that before. Blood lust. I hadn’t. That was the one and only time I’ve ever felt that insane desire to drain someone in one feeding. I almost did it too.”
“Your crew stopped you?”
“Hell no. They knew it was a kill order. They wanted to join in on the feeding. Caught up in blood lust, I refused to share. Like an animal, I dragged her to the forest so I could feed on her alone, in peace.”
“Fuck.”
Rhen nodded. “I’m even ashamed to talk about it.”
“How did you stop?”
“My woman, my mate, she whispered one word that stopped me cold. Yours.”
“Yours?”
“She’d been trying to tell me something during the entire battle. I’d been ignoring her and trying to kill her. You see, she recognized me before I recognized her.”
Damn.
“While she lay dying in my arms, her broken sentences weren’t getting through to me. She kept saying, stop... I’m... yours. She was saying that over and over again. She said yours one final time then passed out. That’s when I finally heard her. That’s when I finally realized what she’d been saying. She was mine. And I’d almost killed her.”
“Who saved her?”
“Sil was younger back then.”
“Our Sil?”
“The one and only.”
“This must’ve been before I arrived here?”
Rhen nodded. That meant Rhen had been waiting decades for his mate to forgive him.
“I cried out for help. There was blood everywhere. That was the first time I’d ever been disgusted at the sight of blood. One of the guys in my crew knew of a healer. He fetched Sil. All I could do was hold my mate and cry. I felt ashamed, guilty. I wanted to die. If she wouldn’t have survived, I would’ve killed myself. Sil came and brought my mate to the compound. It wasn’t as crowded as it is now. Still, I wasn’t allowed in. That was the longest week of my life. But Sil did it. She healed my mate. The look in my mate’s eyes when she walked out of the compound, fully healed, brought me to my knees.”
Rhen swiped his hand over his face. “I could feel the hate in her gaze. It’s dimmed a little over the years. But that first day, it broke me. I tried to talk to her. She put a stake through my chest, barely missing my heart. She told me to stay the fuck away from her.”
“But you didn’t stay away.”
“I couldn’t. Now, there’s a little less hate in her eyes. Still hate though. And I’m not allowed near her. We usually speak through an intercom unless it’s an emergency. She uses me, you see. I run errands for her and this or that. What do I get out of it? I get to hear her voice through an intercom.”
“But how long will that be enough for you?”
“For as long as she deems it necessary. Like I said, it’s not up to you or me. It’s up to them. We wronged them. However long it takes for them to forgive us, is however long it takes. We have no say in that.”
Kaede leaned back in his chair. Could he wait decades for his mate to forgive him?
We can, his dragon answered. She’s worth it.
“She is. But I’m not Rhen. I won’t be satisfied with talking to her through an intercom.”
What are you saying?
“I’m saying, she remains here, with me. I’ll sleep in a different room if I have to. But she’s not allowed to leave me. Not now. Not ever.”
That will push her away.
“No. That will keep her here.”
It will anger her.
“She’s already angry.”
“Enough about me. Let’s discuss our mission to protect the village from the TD attack. This is what Sil and I discussed. The TD like to attack late or early. Depending on when they think their target or targets are asleep. They’ll first send in someone who’s skilled, but not their best, to see if that person can get the job done. If that person fails, they’ll jump to their baddest creature on their roster. They hate having to repeat a task. The first battle should be a breeze. It’s the ones after that one, that could bring us trouble. So Sil and I decided...”
Finally, they were talking strategy. Only, now, Kaede was barely listening. He was too busy thinking of how pissed off his mate was going to be when he told her she could take her time in forgiving him.
Take as long as she wanted. But what she couldn’t do, ever, was leave him. Kaede sighed. He was in for the fight of his life. Two of them. One, with The Deciders. And one, with his mate.
She’s going to try to kill us again.
“Yeah. She is.”
Chapter Nineteen
HER MIND WAS STILL reeling.
Her body was still shivering from her last encounter with Kaede. Sin stared down at her hand. It was trembling. She held it to her chest. What was this dragon doing to her? He’d reduced her to a female who paced.
Pacing back and forth in front of h
is bed, Sin tried to figure out what to do next. Mentally, she’d accepted the fact that he was her mate. Physically, she was a little nervous about letting him inside.
He was huge. Everywhere. Especially down there. And after two years of no hanky-panky, she was damn near a virgin again. That wasn’t even the main thing holding her back. Emotionally, she and her dragon would never be able to connect.
She would always see him as the dragon who’d tried to kidnap her. She’d always remember that if he would’ve succeeded, she would be a prisoner right now. A prisoner to The Deciders.
She knew all about those bastards and the fake points plan they had set up to trick cursed creatures into doing their dirty deeds. None of that was real. She knew that for a fact. Winter had told her.
And Winter had inside information on those bastards. They were never going to let anyone leave here. Why would they? This was their world. The only place they could thrive in. And they thrived off the abilities of others.
One day, Kaede would complete all of his tasks and The Deciders would end him. There was no freedom in his future. Only death or enslavement. If he wanted out, he needed someone on the outside to perfect a spell to free him.
Her family was working on one. Problem was, no one, not even the creatures who lived here, knew where this place was. According to her mom, most planes had a veil location.
A place where the veil between their plane and the Mortal Plane was thin. Her parents couldn’t locate the veil location to this plane. No one knew of it. Not even Winter. Which was why no one had ever left here.
But if anyone could find it, her mom could. Too bad that mirror Winter had couldn’t transport people from one place to another. It only allowed you to see into other planes of existence.
And only for a short period of time and at certain times of the day. Hence the reason she always ventured there in the middle of the night every few days. She couldn’t tell her mate this.
Winter didn’t want anyone knowing of her mirror. She didn’t want anyone knowing her secrets. After all Winter had done for her, there was no way she was going to betray her friend’s trust.
Not even for a sexy dragon who belonged to her. A handsome fire-breather who’d left her in this room to starve to death. He’d promised to send food. That had been thirty minutes ago and Sin still hadn’t eaten.
A knock sounded at the front door. Sin ceased pacing and glanced at the closed bedroom door. It couldn’t be Kaede. He wouldn’t knock. This was his place. Their place. His place. Shit, she wasn’t ready to call it theirs.
She wasn’t even sure she wanted to truly be his. The knock sounded again. What to do? She didn’t know these people. What if they poisoned her? Surely, they wouldn’t do that. She was mated to their top dog... er, dragon.
The knock sounded again. Sin straighten the clothes on her body. There was never a mirror around when she needed one. She fluffed out her wild hair. She was pretty sure she looked a hot mess.
Oh well. These people didn’t know her. Slowly, she made her way over to the bedroom door. The knock sounded again as she opened the bedroom door. Hold your horses, Sin thought as she stepped into the living room that had no furniture.
No couch. No television. She’d only seen one T.V. since being here. It was at Winter’s house. And it doubled as a microwave. It was a weird invention but it got the job done. Knock. Knock. Knock.
They better have food since they were doing all that knocking. Sin approached the front door. There was no peephole for her to look out.
“Who is it?” Sin shouted. No matter what name they yelled out, she wouldn’t know them. Still, she had to ask.
“It’s Caro. Sorry to bother you. Kaede told me to bring you some food.”
Her stomach growled when she heard the word food. Sin tried to fix her hair again then gave up and unlocked the door. She pulled it open and stared at the back of a woman’s head.
“Hi.” Sin said.
The woman turned around. “Hi...” Caro froze.
Sin froze. They both stood there staring at each other.
“Sinclair!”
“Carolee.”
Screaming, they embraced each other, almost causing Lee to drop the tray of food she had. Luckily, no one was passing by and saw them. She was pretty sure they heard them though. That was how loud they were screaming.
“It’s really you,” Sin said as she pulled away from her best friend. Former best friend. Shit. Right now, she was the only bestie she had.
“It’s really you,” Caro said. But her voice was huskier. That was when Sin noticed the cut mark on her neck. No. That was a rope mark that had healed.
“You’re looking at my neck.” Caro touched her neck. “It happened on the day I was sent here. The day my mate and I was sent here.”
“You didn’t run away?”
“Is that what that bitch told the coven?”
“There was a letter written in your handwriting.”
“I never wrote no damn letter,” Lee yelled then stared around her. “Let’s go inside. I have your food and we need to catch up. Damn, I can’t believe you’re here, Sin. I’m happy to see you. But I’m sorry to see you also.”
“I know the feeling.” Sin stepped back. “Come in and I’ll take that tray. I’m starving.”
Lee stepped inside. “It’s meat and cheese. I just threw something together. Cook is preparing lunch. I’ll bring you more when it’s ready.”
Sin looked around. “I don’t have anywhere for us to sit.”
“There’s a table in the kitchen.”
“Is there? I haven’t been in there.”
“Your main room furniture will be delivered later.”
“Uh, thanks.”
“Come on.” Lee wrapped her arm around Sin who was biting into a piece of cheese. “Let’s go into the kitchen and talk. I can’t believe my bestie is here.”
Chewing her food, Sin allowed herself to be ushered into the kitchen.
“It’s not like our kitchens back home. But this is really nice for here,” Lee told her.
“It is.” Sin ate a piece of bacon as she stared around the room. The meat was called bacon. But there were no pigs here. The poagos did look like wild boars though. Hence the term, bacon.
“You have a stove. Do you want me to show you how it works?”
“I had one back at my other house.”
“Other house? How long have you been here?”
“Two years.”
Lee’s mouth dropped open. “Two years! I’ve been here three years. Oh my gosh, Sin. Sit down and tell me what happened.”
“You first.” Sit sat down and chomped on another piece of meat.
She was really happy to see her friend. Really happy. But her stomach felt like it was about to touch her back. She couldn’t talk until she finished this tray of cheese, meats and whatever those blueberry looking things were.
Seated across from Lee, Sin listened and ate as her friend told her of how she came to be on this frozen plane. Between bites of food, Sin took in the changes to Carolee. Her hair was cut short in a pixie hairstyle.
It was different from the dreadlocks she used to sport. It was still cute though. She was slimmer. Unlike Sin, who hadn’t managed to lose a pound since being here. Well, maybe one pound. That was about it.
She didn’t miss meals. That was the whole point of her learning how to hunt and trade so she wouldn’t starve. The mark around Lee’s neck was what bothered her the most. It had to be a deep cut for it to leave a mark like that.
“It was Hannah who cursed me here.”
Sin blinked. She hadn’t been paying full attention, but she was sure her friend said Hannah cursed her here. “Did you say, Hannah? Ms. Hannah? Your dad’s fiancé. Well, they’re married now.”
“So, he did marry that bitch?”
Sin nodded. Last month. She couldn’t tell her friend that or she’d want to know how Sin knew that he married her stepmom last month.
“Did they even look fo
r me?” Lee shouted.
“Like I told you, there was a letter.”
“Hannah used magic to write it. That had to be it. Because I didn’t leave a letter. Like I just told you, she found out I was dating Nachik.”
“That’s where I heard his name. It was in the letter. The letter said you ran off with a guy from the reservation.”
“That bitch found out I was dating Nachik. She told me to stop seeing him. I told her I couldn’t because I was his mate. She had a fit. That night, I went to see Nachik and told him about Hannah. Turns out, Hannah was dating a guy from the reservation.”
“That’s why she didn’t want you dating Nachik. She didn’t want to be found out. That bitch. And I believed her tears when she acted like she really missed you.”
“That bitch tied a fucking magic rope around me and Nachik, blocking our ability to use our powers.”
“What is Nachik?”
Lee shrugged. “We don’t know. He was adopted at five months old by a family on the reservation who found him in the woods.”
“The wolf shifters?”
Lee nodded. “His eyes glow a light orange color when he’s mad and when there’s a full moon, but he’s never shifted before. He’s strong and fast. Yet, no one knows what he is.”
Sin wanted to see him. She was good at figuring things like this out. However, she didn’t want to ask, especially since she’d overheard about his condition.
“He’d seen Hannah many times on the reservation. She also worked at the casino his adopted family owned. So, when I said her name, he immediately asked if I was talking about the dark-skinned witch with the long braids and the tattoo of a raven on her wrist.”
“That’s Hannah.”
“Right. When I learned she was seeing one of the guys at the reservation, I was pissed. I rushed home to tell my dad. I even brought Nachik with me. Dad wasn’t home. But Hannah was.”
“Shit.”
“She saw the two of us together and the expressions on our faces and she knew something was up. She used her powers against me. Fresh out of Guardian Trials, I thought I could take her. I was wrong. When I woke up, Nachik and I were tied up and we were being unloaded off the back of a truck. I was barely scratched up, but Nach was covered in bruises. So was Hannah.”
