by Meg Xuemei X
“Run!” Héctor roared.
- Continued in Half-Blood Academy 5
The final installment coming in Feb 2020
P.S. If you enjoy Magic Unchained, would you consider leaving a brief review on Amazon? <3
REVIEW MAGIC UNCHAINED HERE
Half-Blood Academy 5: Magic Flame
We lit the match. Now the mating fever’s fire can’t be stopped.
The world hasn’t seen the likes of me.
My power can unmake the gods and the worlds—but only after I mate with the Demigod of Sea and activate the Living Flame inside me.
Mate all day and all night long.
Peachy right?
If only we weren’t trapped in the Void where no gods, demons, or mortals are safe. The monsters here? They eat immortals like us as if we’re candy. It’s hard to have sexy times when we’re fending off Titans, cannibals, that nasty Ares, and that loose cannon Lucifer.
Furthermore, if we don’t return home before the apocalypse, Earth will turn to dust. Our only option is to let the heat of the mating fever blaze, war zone or not, and make it burn everything in its wake.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Magic Unchained and staying with Mari and her damn hot, loyal demigods.
<3 Meg
The expected release date for Of Shadows and Fire 2: The Fall of the Underworld is Jan 2019.
The expected release date for Half-Blood Academy 5: Magic Flame is Feb/March 2020.
Join Meg’s Legion of Hellions
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SNEAK PEEK: CLAIM THE WOLF KING
Claim the Wolf King (True Mate Book 1)
It's a one in a million chance that the sexy-as-sin and savage wolf king finds his fated mate—me, the curvy warrior—on the most hostile planet. But you can't call him one lucky bastard.
I can't be his—I'm sworn to another. And I haven't the time for mating when I have to lead a gang of the worst criminals to fight off the vampire hordes, cannibals, and Akem's creatures of nightmare to find the veiled portal to go home.
The ruthless, red-blooded wolf king isn't one to listen to reason. He has no intention of preserving my virtue and honor. He wants to mate with me more than his life is worth, and nothing and no one will stop him from claiming me.
~
The knockout had to be Marrok’s former lover. Maybe she was still his, judging from her bad attitude.
I’d never asked Marrok for commitment, but he’d demanded absolute fidelity from me. If she was still his woman, I’d make him eat mud, King or not.
The woman, armed with an axe, halted in front of me. “So, you’re the one who left her stench all over Marrok.” She had a husky voice that could be sexy if she refrained from adding meanness into it. Any woman who carried an axe was both hot and scary.
All other shifters called Marrok ‘His Majesty’, but this woman seemed to have earned the privilege of calling him by his first name.
The bar became deadly quiet and heads turned to us.
This was all very annoying. I’d come a long way to look for Marrok, in the hopes of getting laid properly since I no longer needed to worry about being knocked up—thanks to Fia—before returning to the Witch Tower. That was all I wanted. Now I had to deal with his former lover, instead of riding waves of orgasms.
I wasn’t a stranger to a bar fight, but I had no intention of starting one today. I was more than anxious to go find Marrok and aid him. After I made sure he was alive, we could solve the issue about past lovers like two adults.
Were all the women staring me down his mistresses?
Stars! The wolf king’s sexual appetite was insatiable.
Fury formed a ball in my stomach.
From now on, he could fuck himself or whoever else for all I cared, but he wouldn’t get a piece of my ass again.
I used my empathic ability to lock the bitterness, dread, jealousy, and black rage away, as if they were someone else’s.
Pattern and Otsana bared their teeth, even though they weren’t wolves. They rose to their feet, hands moving to the hilts of their swords. Their message was clear: We’ve got your six, Kaara. We’ll bring down the axe bitch and any of her fucking allies.
I gave the four women a quick evaluation.
“Daciana!” Antonio warned.
She ignored him. “I’ll wash away your stink from him and replace it with mine tonight.”
I turned to her and asked in a straight face, “You mean to replace it with your stench?”
“How dare you!” she shrieked, nostrils flaring.
“I dare all sorts of things, and you might not have the mind to sort them out,” I said, letting a cold, mocking smile tug up the corner of my lips and fanned at my nose. “I hope your king will appreciate your odor if you can—what did you say—replace it with—” I turned to my companions. “Hey, do you think I smell?”
“Yes!” Otsana said. “You smell like sweet peach.”
“More like the lemon pie I had in my home planet,” Pattern said.
Did he mean I smelled sour? I would have to set him straight after this was over.
“Whore!” Daciana spat.
“Back off, Daciana,” Antonio said.
“She insults me and you tell me to back down?”
“Don’t do this,” Antonio said. “Just walk away and we’ll forget what happened here.”
“It’s either her or me,” Daciana said, her hatred-burned eyes gluing to me the whole time. “I challenge you to a death duel!”
“What kind of planet did I fall to?” I murmured, more to myself than to anyone else. “I constantly have to fight for food, water, and shelter. And now I have to fight for the right to fuck a man?”
The shifters in the background roared with laughter and some almost choked themselves. They now regarded me in a different light, and all of them looked on with excited anticipation.
Who wouldn’t want to watch two women fight over their king?
Daciana was taller and broader than me. The axe would look ridiculous in my hand, but she wielded it like a professional killer. Of course, she was one. Anyway, it made her appear more than cool. As a wolf shifter, she also possessed super strength.
Without a doubt in her mind, Daciana believed she could cut me down like a ripe cherry.
I drew my angelblade, and it flashed a menacing light.
Yes, baby, it’s playtime again.
The angelblade never tired of maiming and slaying.
“Death duel? That sounds fun,” I said.
After handling her, I’d go for Marrok. No one would be able to stop me. And perhaps Antonio would help me track him. No matter how his women or former women treated me, I couldn’t stand to see Marrok perish.
“Any time,” I said. “And I’m more than happy to oblige you if you want it to happen right here.”
A few cheers sounded from the north corner.
“Whore!” Daciana screamed. “Think you’re funny just because you opened your legs for Marrok?”
“I’m funnier with my legs closed.”
Deep laughter bellowed through the bar. Daciana and her minions glared at me with venom as if I’d personally slapped their grandmother.
Antonio shook his head and glanced at me strangely. It was the first time he was seeing this playful side of me. In the past, he’d been mildly guarded with me because I’d tricked him a few times and made him give up a small share of his raids, but I’d always informed him of the food sources and let his men do the heavy lifting while me and my team played the role of the sidekick.
“Daciana, you don’t want to do this,” Antonio said. “It’s not too late to walk away.”
“You think I can’t take down that cheap whore?” Daciana snorted.
“You’ve called me whore twice now,” I said.
“Three times,” someone in the bar corrected.
“Fine,” I said, winking at Daciana. “Are you a professional in
that career? I hope you’re as good as you sound. You obviously pride yourself on being expensive.”
Daciana raised her axe, and my angelblade hissed. I would end her in one strike. I didn’t have time to circle around her forever.
But Antonio cut in between us. “You scratch Lady Nightshades, and Marrok will fry you when he returns.”
“I’ll take care of that,” Daciana said. “And I don’t think he will. Marrok is more practical than you think. When that whore is out of the picture, he’ll have no choice but to have me again. Females are limited here. I’m the best left for him.”
“Lady Nightshades is his chosen mate,” Antonio said in a low, threatening voice.
“Then why didn’t he bring her to the Keep if he claimed her?” Daciana said. “No shifter would leave his true mate behind, and he’s the king. It only means he never wanted her. Look how she came to throw herself at him.” She gave me another disdained onceover. “She doesn’t bear his mark. This imposter who dyed her hair like ink is just trash he used once.” Gloating glistened in her eyes. She thought she’d wounded me emotionally with the brutal truth. “It isn’t news that Marrok uses women and tosses them away. This whore isn’t even a shifter. Marrok would never choose an outsider and taint his bloodline.”
I raised a finger that didn’t hold my blade. “First, this is my natural hair color. Where the hell am I supposed to find hair dye in the City of Monsters? And second, where was I?”
“You’ll taint Marrok’s bloodline,” Otsana offered.
“Oh, the damn bloodline. Thank you.”
Daciana sneered. “You won’t talk much after I chop off your head.”
“I’m so scared,” I said. “Almost peed my pants.”
The shifters burst into another round of laughter.
“Daciana, this is my last warning,” Antonio said. “Stop it and get out.”
“I’m calling on the shifter laws,” Daciana shouted. “Even King Marrok can’t stop me.”
They weren’t my laws, but I was curious. I wanted to know what law would apply to our duel, so I didn’t protest. Besides, Daciana was determined to cut off my head. She wouldn’t allow me to take Marrok from her, not now or ever.
“According to the shifter laws, you’ll show your rival one mercy,” Antonio said.
Daciana spat, fixing her round eyes on me with full contempt. “There’s my mercy: beg and promise to never come back here, and I’ll let you crawl out of here alive.”
I sighed. “I won’t take it. Marrok fucks too well, and I can’t pass on that.”
She lunged to the side toward me, bypassing Antonio, and I raised my angelblade.
This woman could watch how my angelblade cut through her axe before I slashed her throat.
Antonio moved lightning fast. He grabbed the haft of Daciana’s axe and pushed her away from me.
“What, Antonio?” Daciana hissed. “Are you defending an outsider against me? Aren’t we friends anymore? Haven’t I treated you well all these years? Will you rob me of my right to challenge her?”
“Then duel with bare hands,” Antonio said. “A fair fight. It’s also the tradition.”
Really? My angelblade was my best defense, and the wolf beta knew that. He’d seen how I’d cut my foes with my blade.
It would be a fair fight for his friend since she could shift. It would be tough for me to take down a full grown wolf with my bare hands. I’d seen how large a shifter wolf could be.
Nicely done by subtly disarming me, Antonio.
Daciana grinned. She seemed to get it.
“Daciana,” Antonio said, “as your friend, I ask you one last time to walk away.”
“Never!” Daciana said, planting her feet firmly.
Antonio turned to me. “Will you accept the challenge, Lady Nightshades? You can refuse and return to the Witch Tower, but then you can never come back here.”
“And I can’t have a drink here anymore?” I asked.
Antonio nodded, his expression grim.
“That sucks,” I said. “What about Marrok? I can’t see him again?”
“I’m afraid so,” Antonio said.
“That sucks double,” I said. “Are there any specific rules I should know about, or must I just fight this big woman in front me until one of us never rises again?”
I was no stranger to duels in the Lithuaria Empire. We were an evolved society, yet still bloodthirsty. The empire had built the grandest arena for a variety of bloody sports. The Emperor hosted private duels in his royal square every weekend. I’d been their favorite. Fia had envied me to death.
Antonio briefly explained the rules. In a nutshell, we could use anything but real weapons in a duel to the death.
“That’s your fucking tradition, not ours!” Otsana pounded the bar before Antonio finished. “Lady Nightshades shall have the right to use her blade!”
“And that unrefined shifter bitch isn’t allowed to shift to her wolf form in a duel!” Pattern also shouted his opinion.
I gestured for Pattern and Otsana to stay down and be quiet.
“I’ll abide to your rules,” I said loudly, to no one in particular. “And I gladly accept any challenge.”
Antonio reached out a hand, and Daciana put her axe on his palm. He waited, and she cut him a glare as she pulled out all her hidden weapons—a knife in her boot, a steel chain inside her coat, a short spear strapped to her thigh.
Pattern narrowed his eyes. Otsana didn’t look that positive anymore, her horns turning darker. She sent me a look which told me if I went down she would challenge the she-wolf to revenge me.
Antonio dropped Daciana’s weapons on the bar counter and Lou gathered them inside his workplace. Antonio stretched a hand toward me for my blade.
“You don’t get to hold any of my weapons,” I said as I stripped all of them and handed them to Pattern. I handed my angelblade to Otsana, and she nodded.
“As the judge,” Antonio said, “I reserve the right to stop and even kill any party who violates the rules in the middle of a duel.”
If Otsana tossed the angelblade to me in the middle of the fight, we both violated the rules, and the shifters would have the right to kill us both. But it wasn’t violating the rules if Daciana shifted to her beast form, because she was a shifter, and this was their territory.
“Bullshit!” Pattern said. “We walk!”
I sliced a hand at him to stop his further outburst.
“Would you want to pick the place?” Antonio asked, as if doing me a favor. “It’s better to duel outside—more space and less damage.”
“I like it here,” I said. “There are lots of tables I can hide under. Your friend picks right now, and I pick right here. It’s only fair.”
Antonio tensed. “I take no side. I tried to stop this.”
I smiled, though not with my eyes. “A little sport is good for the morale.”
Antonio shook his head. He didn’t like where this was going.
But I didn’t care what he liked. I’d come to see Marrok, and they’d led me here, promising a drink. My companions had barely wet their lips.
If this was how they treated me, then I’d give all of them a taste of my version of fun.
“Are you going to talk me to death, weakling?” Daciana demanded.
The shifters gathered in a ring, surrounding Daciana and me. Antonio had set seven yards of distance between us.
“Bring it on, bitch,” I said.
She charged at me with a snarl. She was close to Marrok’s height and had a good fifty pounds on me. If she collided into me, the impact would send me flying and I might crack a rib or two.
“Ouch!” someone called before Daciana’s fist connected to my face.
I dodged the blow at the last second and leapt up. Crouching on the table, I swept my foot in a nice arc—a plate of two half-eaten sausages shot toward Daciana’s face.
She was fast. She grabbed the plate and the sausages with both hands, and I rewarded her with a free drink. F
ive glasses of booze flew toward her, ruining her plan of returning the plate and sausages to me.
She smashed the glasses and had the good sense of throwing her head back, but the stream from the last glass shot straight into her eye. I timed it right and played a nice angle.
I used to juggle five shots—without spilling a drop—to get free drinks for Fia and me in the open bar in Lithuaria. It wasn’t like we didn’t have the money, but free drinks were always better. We’d been spoiled and rotten back then. Look where that got us.
Pattern’s jaw dropped, and Otsana shouted her instruction, “Take down the fucking bitch while she’s blind.”
“Don’t be so mean, Otsana,” I said. “Let her cry a bit first.”
Daciana slammed her fist into the table I was perched on, and it broke in half, but I quickly jumped to another table. Daciana chased me to the next table and I flung a bowlful of noodles at her head.
Some of the shifters around us chortled and whistled.
“This is the best fight ever!”
It seemed that not everyone was fond of their king’s mistress.
“Not the best,” I corrected the shifter that had called out. “Probably the most entertaining one.”
“Who are you really?” someone asked.
“I’m an aspiring actress from the Icearth Galaxy,” I said.
Daciana was picking up a few tricks herself. She collected plates and cups and tossed them at me. I squirmed and yelped each time she threw them at me, even though none of them landed on my person but hit on someone else in the bar.
Soon, there would be no more tables for me to jump to and no more for her to break. I didn’t want to land on the bar and risk damaging the vintage drinks behind the counter. I wanted to try them out. My gaze flicked to the bar; good Lou had cleared all the bottles.
Quite a few shifters looked regretful that they hadn’t preserved their food and drinks before the fight had started. Even though they ate better than us who dwelled in the Witch Tower, their food resources were still limited.