Claimed (Project Destiny Book 1)

by Lee-Ann Wallace

  The scent of her blood permeated the cell, strong enough to drown out the stench that lingered. Only the faintest hint of metal remained, the green smell Tina scented on the ship now stronger. Her blood smelled like a forest, rich and damp, with hints of sweetness.

  She curled into a ball as shudders of cold sent twinges of pain through still developing muscles. The weight between her shoulders pressed her down. Even if she wanted to stand up, she would probably end up flat on her face.

  She’d had a lot of time to think while locked in, lots of time to analyse her feelings. She had come to the conclusion that she wasn’t responsible for what happened to Sorvar. She had nothing to feel guilty for. He was the one who had bitten her and claimed her, he was the one who had started all of this. The more she thought about it, the more she realised she was still angry with him for what he’d done, and she intended to give him a right serve for it, but she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the surge of heavy warmth she’d felt from him before the attack and what it could have meant. The answers she came up with sent warmth surging through her and left her with a tight breathless feeling in her chest, and at the same time completely terrified her.

  For the first time in her life, though, she wanted a relationship to work, to see what they could have together long term. The idea of being together long term sent butterflies into her stomach, but she wanted to try. Tina didn’t love Sorvar yet, but she liked him and the way he’d treated her before the attack. Things would never be boring with Sorvar around.

  He was never far from her mind. The emptiness almost drove her as crazy as the silence. She missed feeling him inside her—she missed his gentle amusement and the heated surge of his lust. A cold emptiness that burned through her had taken the place of the warmth in her chest.

  It was just another pain to add to the list she already had, and it was growing. The searing pain in her chest pulsing with sharp ferocity made Tina blink her eyes in the semi-dark. The last time she’d felt this was... on the bridge of the ship right before Sorvar had changed.

  Rage. So much rage. Oh god, he was awake! Was he coming for her? Maybe he thought she was dead already. Tina uncurled and struggled up to her knees, almost toppling over under the heavy weight on her back.

  Tears burned in her eyes, but she refused to allow them to fall, blinking her eyes repeatedly, but a single tear escaped to slide down her cheek, and she wiped it away with rough fingers scratching her face with her new claws. She kept forgetting they were there. Damn it, she didn’t want Sorvar to see her cry. She didn’t want him thinking she was weak.

  The rough stone floor cut into her knees as she kneeled quietly, waiting, listening for a sound, an indication that something was happening. The fiery blaze of Sorvar’s rage burned hotter and stronger in her chest as the minutes ticked by.

  Her breath caught for an instant, then whispered over her dry lips. Her belly fluttered when a distant roar shook the stones under her knees.

  Furious wasn’t a strong enough word to describe Sorvar. She almost felt sorry for anybody who was in his way while he tried to find her. Except for the king. She didn’t feel sorry for him at all, and would quite happily stand aside as Sorvar tore into him.

  Tina shook her head. No that wasn’t right. The king was Sorvar’s father, and she knew from experience that a parent could do all sorts of horrible things to a child, and they could still love them in a twisted kind of way. The king probably loved his son, and maybe it pissed him off that Sorvar had chosen a mate that, in his eyes, made him weak. Still, did that give him the right to treat his son’s mate like shit?

  She was in a freaking dungeon, for god’s sake. It was positively medieval. The Morgath were an evolved, technologically advanced species. Why the hell did they even have a dungeon?

  Another roar, louder this time, shook the floor under her. Tina’s heart thumped in her chest so hard she thought it would burst out. Would he still want her when he found out how she had changed? Maybe he wouldn’t look at her with dark heat in his eyes anymore and kiss her with more passion than she’d ever felt before.

  Maybe not while she smelled like a sewer, or was that an abattoir? Whatever it was she smelled like, she needed a bath, and she’d needed it days ago. Tina smoothed her hands down what remained of her top. She couldn’t do anything about the way she looked.

  Thuds and growls filtered through the tiny slot in the door as Tina kneeled in the little sliver of light. Rage and... determination drove her to her hands, gasping. The weight of Sorvar’s emotions was enough to drive her to the floor. She braced herself on trembling arms, the rough stone harsh against her soft palms.

  A sudden spasm in the new muscles in her back ripped a pain filled scream from her already hoarse throat. Her braid fell forward off her shoulder as she dropped her head and panted through the pain. The now much longer mass coiled on the floor beside her hand.

  She could feel him coming. Oh god! The floor trembled under his heavy steps, the air thick with emotion and that ever present rage filled her to overflowing, burning like a hot coal in her chest.

  “Sorvar,” she breathed, his name a soft caress on her lips.

  A low growl came from the other side of the door as the brooding bulk of his body extinguished the small sliver of light. The door groaned, the sound of wood splintering and cracking ricocheted through the cell sending sparks of pain through Tina’s head.

  With a furious squeal of metal hinges, Sorvar tore away the door, the crash tremendous as he threw it aside, but Tina ignored it as she stared up at her mate.

  “Tina,” Sorvar growled.

  Oh god! His voice was like a cool breeze on a hot summer night, fluttering across her heated skin in a gentle dance. He was huge, so freaking big he took up the entire doorway and then some.

  Tina’s heart squeezed. He’d come for her. He’d woken, and she’d been his first priority. She struggled with the surge of emotion that flowed through her, wanting to burst into tears and laugh at the same time, wanting to curse him and beg him never to leave her again. Deep, heavy emotional moments weren’t Tina’s forte, so she did what she always did in these situations.

  “You’re a sight for sore eyes, handsome. Did you enjoy your nap?” she asked, her voice husky, her throat ruined.

  Her claws scraped across the stone floor, the sound a small shriek in the cell as she balled her hands into fists.

  Sorvar’s low deep chuckle sent dark amusement flowing through her. “No, pavri, I did not. You were not beside me, and I longed for your presence and your touch. Even while unconscious, I felt the loss of you like a blade in my gut.”

  A shudder ran through Tina, the pain inconsequential compared to the warmth filling her heart.

  “I missed you too, Sorvar,” she whispered.

  Chapter Eight

  To Tina, it seemed like such a small admission, but the welter of warmth that flowed through her from the bond she shared with Sorvar was almost enough to make her sob.

  “Come, Princess, we have something to attend to, then I will take you to Medical and have Bavric perform the scans you should have received the day we arrived,” Sorvar said.

  Her cell was almost entirely black inside. Very little light seeped in around Sorvar’s massive form. Could he see how she’d changed in the time she had been down here? She wasn’t the same Tina he had shared his bed with on the ship. She wasn’t the same woman he had held pressed against him and claimed over and over again.

  He might not be able to accept the changes to her body when he discovered what she had become. His feelings could change.

  To take her mind off what ifs and maybes, Tina asked, “How long have I been down here, Sorvar?”

  It felt like a thousand years. It could have been a day. It could have been a week.

  “The ship landed five days ago. Pavri, you must come to me—I cannot fit through the door as I am.” His tone was gentle but insistent.

  Yes, she wanted to get out of here. Five days was plenty long
enough in a cell to last her a lifetime. Tina braced herself for the pain and pushed up on her hands. She bit her lip as she drew a leg up to push herself to her feet. Her new teeth pierced her lip, but the small pain was nothing compared to the spikes that pierced her back.

  She screamed, her teeth gritted tightly together as the muscles in her back flexed and strained. On her feet for the first time in what felt like days, Tina wobbled under the new weight on her back, barely managing to stay upright.

  Her head spun as blood roared in her ears. She grunted in pain as she tried to hold her swaying body still.

  “You are in pain, Tina. What has Tardic done to you?” A surge of violent rage inside her accompanied a low threatening growl.

  “Nothing,” she gasped as she took one step forward.

  Her body screamed in protest, but Tina took another step and another. Come on. You can do this. It was only a few steps to the door.

  “Then why are you in so much pain?”

  Tina didn’t answer. It would be better for him to see for himself than for her to try and tell him about the changes. She didn’t even know where to begin.

  The floor was cold and rough under her soft soles. After the male had thrown her in the cell, she had discarded her shoes, and she’d never find them in the dark.

  Two more steps and she would be able to reach for Sorvar to steady herself. Those two steps were the longest, hardest two steps Tina had ever taken in her life. When she held her hand out to him, and he enclosed hers in his strong warm one, she almost sobbed. Her entire body trembled with the effort it took to walk.

  He took slow, careful steps back, helping her walk from her cell. If he heard the slight dragging sound that accompanied her trek across the stone floor, he didn’t mention it. And all she could feel from him was burning fury.

  The light blinded her as he stepped back away from the door. Tina covered her eyes with her hand and continued to step towards Sorvar, supported by his strength.

  She didn’t know what he saw first—her claws, the teeth she bared in a grimace of pain, or the small claws she had on her feet. Maybe it was the two wings that hung limp and useless down her back and dragged on the floor. Whatever it was, a sharp hiss escaped him.

  “Gods, Tina, look at you. My beautiful pavri, you are stunning.”

  Tina dropped her hand and looked up at her mate as his shock gave way to a heated surge of lust and something she didn’t recognise. Her eyes teared up, the light almost blinding her. A soft, gentle stroke along her cheek drew a gasping breath from her.

  The relief of his acceptance was overwhelming. She shuddered, pain slicing through her yet again. Her legs shook so hard she thought she was going to collapse.

  Sorvar’s hands were on her before she realised what he meant to do. He grasped her wings along the bony top edge and lifted, pushing them up and together, like how he held his own wings and every other Morgath male held theirs.

  Tina screamed as her muscles wrenched, the agony driving her down to her knees, but Sorvar was there to hold her up and support her.

  “I’m sorry, pavri, it was necessary. If your wings aren’t in the right position, the muscles will grow in wrong and you will never gain use of them.”

  Choking sobs were all she could manage as she clung to him, her claws digging into the scales of his sides. He didn’t give her a chance to respond. He picked her up, cradling her in his huge arms, and started down the hall. The pressure against her wings was almost torturous, the skin ultra-sensitive.

  His scent swirled around her, and she buried her face in his chest drawing in deep breaths. Heat bloomed low in her body, but Tina chose to ignore it. The ache in her new teeth and the overwhelming urge to bite him was harder to ignore.

  The steady clicking of his clawed feet on the floor was strangely soothing after the silence of her cell. Tina couldn’t see much more than vague shapes, but she could feel, and she could hear.

  Sorvar made a strange movement that jostled her and ripped a gasp of pain from her, but he didn’t slow, he kept on going, repeating the strange movement two more times, his claws clicking on the stone floor.

  A string of Morgathian came from the male who had thrown her into the cell. She would never forget his voice. Then Sorvar was climbing a set of steps. Warmer air brushed across her face as they climbed higher. Not as hot as the air outside, but it was definitely warmer than the cool, damp confines of the dungeon.

  Tina’s eyes slowly started to adjust, the sting fading the further they went. She began to see things clearer instead of them being amorphous blobs. Colours started to differentiate until she could almost see.

  “Sorvar, where are we going?” God, her voice sounded like crap.

  His arms tightened around her, dragging a hiss to her lips before he relaxed again.

  “To see my father,” he replied.

  That shut Tina up, but she couldn’t stop her stomach from quivering or her heart from starting to pound. She looked like, smelled like, and felt like the scum that had coated the floor of her cell, and Sorvar wanted her to see his father.

  “I won’t let him hurt you ever again, pavri.”

  She stroked a hand over the smooth scales of his chest. “I know. I trust you, and I know if you’d been awake, you would never have let him put me down there.”

  “Open the doors,” Sorvar barked in Morgathian, and Tina turned to find them walking towards a set of towering wooden doors with what looked like intricate carving. She would love to study the details, but with her vision still blurry, she could only make out vague details, like the two huge circular handles.

  Three guards stood on either side of the door. The two closest to the door hesitated until Sorvar growled at them, then they hurried to reach for the handles and swing open the doors.

  Sorvar stalked into what Tina discovered was the throne room. Bright sunshine spilled in through high arched windows that ran down the length of the throne room and lit up the polished white stone floor to blinding brilliance. The ceiling soared so far above them that with her watering eyes, she could barely tell where it stopped. She hid her face in Sorvar’s shoulder, squeezing her eyes closed. A low growl started in Sorvar’s chest half way across the room, and Tina could feel the rage that had been on low simmer start to build inside him again.

  She turned, blinking her eyes, trying to adjust to the glare. Stupid sensitive eyes. She almost growled, but bit it off at the last second. It was an odd choice for such an aggressive species, having the entire palace built out of white stone. It must be a pain in the ass to keep clean.

  Sorvar’s father wasn’t lounging on his massive white stone throne like she expected him to be or admiring the statue that stood, by her estimate, at least fifteen feet high, to the left of the throne. He was off to the right looking at a screen on the wall with four other males who cut off their heated conversation in the middle and turned to watch them approach. All but one male, the tallest male—Sorvar’s father.

  Two sets of yellow eyes stared at Tina, not with the disgust and hatred she thought she would receive from Sorvar’s brothers, but with shock. Their gazes skimmed over her, lingering on the arches of her wings that were visible above her shoulders.

  The third male was staring at Sorvar, who towered over all of them. Calculation shone in his eyes and a grim sort of respect.

  “Father,” Sorvar said, his burning rage sending pulses of fire through Tina’s body.

  “Why have you brought that abomination in front of me, Sorvar?” The king didn’t even turn around as he rasped his question.

  An uncomfortable silence fell as Sorvar’s rage swelled and almost engulfed them both.

  Tina’s heart pounded so hard she could hear it thundering in her ears, her body stiffening in Sorvar’s arms. She was not an abomination! She stared at the back of Sorvar’s father. Oh, how she would like to get her new claws on him.

  “Father, perhaps Sorvar’s choice of mate hasn’t made him as weak as we thought,” one of the yellow-eyed
males said as he eyed Sorvar.

  “Bah! I have seen what he has become. He is weak and needed to rely on other males to protect his mate. I have no use for males who cannot protect their females and young, and I have no use for females who steal my warrior’s strength. You should have given her to the Crasgich, Sorvar, and avoided restarting the war. Now, my warriors will die because of one useless female. Get her away from me, or I will do what I should have done five days ago and rip her throat out.” The king still refused to turn and look at his son.

  Sorvar roared, vicious, furious, and deafening. Oh, god, so much rage! The ground trembled under his rage. The windows closest to them shrieked as fine cracks spread across their surfaces, and cracks spread across the screen mounted on the wall. Sorvar’s wings snapped out and wrapped around them, enclosing Tina in the warmth of his embrace.

  “I should kill you for what you have done to Tina, but I won’t. Our people need you. However, if you ever lay your hands on my mate I will—”

  Tina thumped a fist into Sorvar’s chest before digging her claws into the scaled muscle, halting his threatening words. “Sorvar, you cannot threaten the king. He could have you killed for treason,” she hissed.

  A low rumbling growl rolled up through his chest, cutting through the shocked silence that filled the throne room.

  “If you kill my mate, Father, you will kill me. We are soul bonded, so whatever plans you had to separate us, you can forget. I will not be separated from my mate. Not now, not ever,” Sorvar said.

  Tina went still in Sorvar’s arms as her breath caught. Oh, he was in so much trouble. She was going to rip into him when they were alone.

  Claws scraped across the stone, a shriek in the silence of the throne room. The angry hiss of a male accompanied it.