by Jayme Morse
I frowned. “I thought an Ancient could only be attracted to another ancient.”
He nodded. “That’s correct.”
“So, you were engaged to her, even though you weren’t attracted to her?” I questioned, trying to understand the situation. I knew I couldn’t be jealous. The girl was dead, after all. But it didn’t really make sense.
“I wouldn’t say she was ugly. She was pretty. But the type of attraction I’ve felt towards non-Ancients has just never compared to how I feel about you,” Theo explained. “Our connection is out of this world. Our bodies are like magnets. I have never felt that with a non-Ancient—or anyone else, ever.”
I believed he was telling the truth. “I just don’t understand. Why would you have been engaged without the sort of connection we have?”
“For starters, my odds of finding this sort of connection seemed unlikely. As far as we knew, there weren’t supposed to be any other Ancient females left.” He paused for a moment. “I also always hoped that I would meet my mate one day, but after a few hundred years, I had given up hope. I was tired of being lonely, and it was more than that. I wanted a wife, a child, a family. So, I was willing to settle and be with Fawn because we had a strong emotional connection, but not much of a physical one.”
I understood what he was saying. I just didn’t like it, and it wasn’t because I was jealous. No, it was just strange to think that there was this whole other side of him, this whole other life he’d lived before me. And even though I had known him for two years now, I was only just learning about this part of his life now. It made me wonder what other things there about Theo that I still didn’t know about.
What other things didn’t I know about not just him but all of my mates?
“Raven, can I ask you a question?” Theo asked.
I had a feeling that I already knew what he was going to ask: who was I choosing? That was the absolute last thing I wanted to talk about right now. Because he was right; the playing field wasn’t even. There was also the fact that I hadn’t even gotten to spend time with my fifth mate yet.
But, against my better judgment, I said, “Yeah, ask away.”
“Have you already made love to Colton and Rhys? Or is it just me and Aiden who have gotten to do that with you?”
“Theo… I really don’t think we should talk about this.” After the night we’d all just had, the last thing I wanted to deal with was his jealousy. And I knew he was still incredibly jealousy about me sleeping with Aiden. He was obviously speaking to me again, but after since that day months ago, there was this weird tension between us. It was the elephant in the room that both of us had been ignoring until right now.
Then again, maybe it was about time we finally got this talk out of the way.
“It’s just a question.” He shrugged, his eyes not moving from mine. “I want… no, I need… to know what I’m up against.”
I turned away from him then. “No, I haven’t slept with either of them… yet. But I plan to, when and if the timing is right.”
“I see.” He nodded. “That seems fair.”
“Does it?” I glanced over at him, unsure if he actually meant it or not.
“Well, before you buy the car, you should probably take it for a spin. And in this case, you’ll be driving the car for an eternity.”
“No pressure,” I muttered under my breath.
“Hey,” he said, pulling me onto his naked lap. “I get it. I actually think you should be with both of them,” he told me. “We all deserve an even playing field. An equal chance or whatever. But there’s just something I want you to remember.”
“What?” My eyes darted over to meet his.
His blue eyes pierced through mine. “I had you first. And even though you don’t know it yet, my plan is to have you last.” He crushed his lips against mine then, kissing me so intensely and deeply that we were both quickly breathless.
I could feel his hard bulge underneath me, and I wanted him. I wanted him more than I had ever wanted him. I ground my body against him, teasing him and letting him know how badly I wanted this.
His blue eyes stared deep into mine as he pushed himself inside of me.
I let out a loud gasp as I rode him in the water.
We shifted positions then, and he pushed me up against the side of the pool.
As he thrusted every hard inch into me deeply, I arched my back against the wall of the pool.
I could already feel myself tightening, ready to come undone.
“Theo,” I moaned out.
He captured my lips in his mouth, biting them gently and groaning into my mouth.
Waves of pleasure rippled through me as I shattered all around him. He pushed me up hard against the pool wall as he released himself inside of me.
Once he was done, his eyes locked on mine again. “That was amazing, but there is one thing that could have made it better.”
“What?” I asked.
“If it had been a full moon.”
I glanced up at the night sky, noticing that there was no moon visible tonight at all.
I knew what Theo was getting at. If the moon had been full, it would have been an almost guaranteed pregnancy, considering he had just come inside me and the full moon was a werewolf’s fertile time.
A part of me was slightly relieved that there hadn’t been a full moon, because I wasn’t ready to make a decision yet.
Then again, I supposed that would have been one way for me to make my decision.
I could always let fate be the decision-maker.
Chapter 15
Talking to Iris in person left me with this bittersweet feeling. The days following her visit to the house stirred up a lot of memories of the dungeon, things that I would have rather have forgotten.
But no matter how hard I tried to push them away, they just kept rising to the surface as a constant reminder of everything I had endured. I was pretty sure it was my mind’s way of trying to remind me not to forget what happened in those the four walls of that dungeon. It was trying to tell me not to let my emotions take over again.
I had already been too nice to Iris—way nicer than I ever should have been. I couldn’t let myself ever forget what a monster she was.
I was sitting in the living room on Sunday afternoon, trying to work on a report I had to finish for Deadly Lunar Magic, when one of the memories from the dungeon hit me full force. It was like a train hitting me full on. I couldn’t do anything to stop it; all I could do was let it hit me, even though I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to live it all over again.
The tension between Milos and Iris was growing by the day. I could see it in the way they communicated with each other when they were around me.
He was growing frustrated with her, but I hadn’t quite figured out why.
“Javier Rodriguez needs her blood,” he said as they came down the dungeon stairs that day. “We need to do another draw and deliver it to him.”
“Again? I feel like we just gave her his blood,” Iris commented.
“It was three weeks ago. We can’t let it go past a month, remember?” Milos reminded her. “We can’t risk Raven dying.”
“Would it really be the worst thing if she did die?” Iris asked.
I swallowed hard. This was a conversation I didn’t really want to have to listen to. If the two of them decided I would be better off dead… Well, I would be at their complete mercy, considering I couldn’t even do magic in this dungeon.
“Yes, Iris, it would be a horrible thing if she dies,” Milos replied. “You know we need her to form the Triangle.”
“I am so over your obsession with this stupid Triangle,” Iris replied. “And more importantly, I am so tired of your obsession with her. She’s not even your mate.”
“She’s the love of my life.” He growled at her.
“You realize that’s only one-sided, right? Raven Gallagher—”
“Princess Fallyn,” Milos corrected.
“Whatever you want to
call her, I don’t even care. The only thing I do know is that she doesn’t love you, the same way you don’t love me.”
“She doesn’t love me yet. But once she gets to know me better, she’ll love me. Just watch and see,” Milos told her.
“I’m pretty sure that if she hasn’t loved you during the five-hundred years during which she’s known you, your love will never be returned,” Iris replied. Then, bitterly, she added, “Join the unrequited lovers club.”
“Would you stop that? You know there are reasons why we can never be together, Iris. Good reasons.”
“The only reason I know of is Raven Gallagher,” Iris replied. “I’m pretty sure if she wasn’t on this earth at all, the two of us would be together—the way it was always meant to be.”
“Stop with that nonsense. You and me not being together has absolutely nothing to do with the Princess.” He paused for a moment. “I am going to leave you here with her alone to draw her blood. Can I trust you not to kill her?”
“You really think I would kill her?” Iris snorted with laughter.
“If the shoe fits.”
“I’ll draw her blood, but don’t expect me to be the one to deliver it.”
“Fair enough.” Milos paused. “I have more werewolves coming to kiss her later. The sooner we figure out who the third part of the Triangle is, the better. Then we can stop keeping her captive.”
“And then we can kill her,” Iris said matter-of-factly.
“We will never kill Princess Fallyn. How dare you suggest such a thing?” Milos asked.
“It would be the smartest thing for us to do. Otherwise, she can kill all three of us and eliminate the Triangle. It will be her first mission.”
“Princess Fallyn would never want to kill me,” Milos said.
I had to hold in a laugh at his confidence. I wasn’t sure why he seemed to think I was in love with him when I wasn’t. In fact, I hated him and if I ever got out of this dungeon, killing him would be the first mission on my list.
“You do realize that once we let her out of this hellhole, we’re going to be dealing with her mates, right?” Iris asked.
“I’d like to see them try. Once the Triangle has been formed, her mates will be too weak to do anything to physically harm me.”
I breathed a huge sigh of relief as the realization that he hadn’t said the Darken were dead.
I had tried to convince both Iris and Milos to tell me if my mates were okay, and neither of them had given me a straight answer before now.
I hadn’t felt like my mates were dead. It was hard to explain, but I could still feel a connection to all of the Darken, even though I hadn’t been able to communicate with any of them. It was this energy I felt sometimes, an energy that let me know they were still okay. But this was the first confirmation I had officially gotten that let me know they were okay.
“Besides, I’m not worried about her ever seeing her mates again once she leaves this dungeon.”
“I’m not sure how you figure,” Iris replied.
“Easy. I am going to marry her once the Triangle has been formed.”
“You plan to marry her?” There was an unmistakable jealousy in Iris’s voice. I knew it was because she wanted to be the one to marry Milos, not me.
“She will have no reason not to love me once I am one of the strongest Alphas in the entire world,” he replied, his voice just dripping with arrogance. “She will be my Queen, and together, we will take over the entire world.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Iris replied. “You’re already a really strong and powerful werewolf, and she wants no part of you.”
I heard the sound of his bones twisting and cracking then, and a moment later, a low primal growl came from his body.
I could see him on the other end of the dungeon: He had turned into a large, gray wolf.
Iris had really pissed him off.
“You need to relax, Milos.”
He growled at her again.
“I’ll open the door for you,” she said, climbing the dungeon stairs again. “I’m going to draw her blood.”
A moment later, I heard the sound of his padded feet hitting against the stairs as he climbed up them.
I saw Iris’s face as she came into view.
“Nurse Iris, at your service.” There was a devilish look in her eyes, but I could also see the disappointment behind them.
Hearing that Milos planned to marry me had crushed her. I almost felt bad with her. Almost.
“Do you even know how to draw blood?” I asked, eyeing her curiously.
“Of course I know how to draw blood,” Iris replied with an eye roll. “A hundred years ago, I worked as a nurse.”
“I keep forgetting that you’re an Ancient,” I murmured.
“Yes, I am the second female Ancient in the world, aside from you.”
“Why aren’t my mates attracted to you if you’re an Ancient?” I asked her. “I thought Ancients were supposed to be attracted to other Ancients.”
“Is that why I find you so delectable?” She winked. “Milos had a witch hide my Ancient scent once. No Ancients, aside from him, are able to smell what I am.”
“Why did he do that?” I questioned.
“You can’t guess?” Her eyes flicked up to meet mine as she pulled up my sleeve.
“So that only he will be attracted to your Ancient blood?” I asked.
“Bingo,” she murmured as she rubbed alcohol with a cotton ball on the crease of my arm.
“But he doesn’t even want to be with you.”
Her eyes met mine again for a second and then she went back to what she was doing. “Milos wants his cake and to eat it, too. He doesn’t want me, but he doesn’t want anyone else to have me—partly because we have history but also because two Ancients could easily be a power couple. He doesn’t want there to be any couple more powerful than him. That’s why he’s so set on having you.”
“It’s too bad I don’t want him.” I shrugged as she felt around for my vein.
She let out a little laugh as she stuck my vein with the needle. “Do you really think that not wanting him is going to stop him from making you his? If so, think again, Raven. I have known Milos Santorini my whole entire life. When you leave this dungeon, it will be as his bride… or you won’t leave at all.”
“He’ll keep me a prisoner forever?” I whispered.
“He might keep you around as his prisoner for a little while to play with. After all, he’s never gotten to have his way with you,” she replied. “But it’s far more likely that he will kill you if you don’t give into his demands.”
“I would rather die than marry Milos Santorini.”
“He will probably threaten to kill all of your mates first. He’ll make sure that you’re completely at his mercy. If I know Milos as well as I think I do, he’ll use that charm bracelet to kill each of your mates, one by one, until you cave.” Her eyes met mine. “One way or another, he’ll get you to agree to be his wife.”
I swallowed hard, not liking the sound of anything that she was telling me.
Once the vial was full of my blood, Iris glanced over at me. “This is why I am planning to kill you before he can.”
“You are?” I knew I should have been completely horrified by her words, but for some reason, I wasn’t. The truth was that I wasn’t even surprised to hear her admit it to me.
“Yup. I just haven’t figured out yet if I want to kill you before the Triangle is formed,” she replied, “or after.”
Chapter 16
The next day in the dungeon, my wolf took over. I gnawed and bit at the prison bars again.
At this point, I knew that there was no way I was going to escape that way. But tell that to my inner wolf. That side of me was somehow convinced that this was the only way to get out… even after numerous unsuccessful attempts.
I had tried not to let my wolf take over, but I just couldn’t seem to control my anger. I had a lot of freaking anger.
&nbs
p; I was so angry that Milos actually believed I would marry him after he’d kept me his prisoner for so long.
Most of all, I was angry that I had ended up in this situation to begin with. I was angry that I had allowed him to lure me here, that I had been stupid enough to fall for his mind games.
Deep down, I knew that anyone could have easily have fallen victim to his game, but still. It was enough to drive me mad.
Finally, after my fangs had begun to hurt from chewing at the bars, my wolf gave up defeatedly.
I felt so desperate to get out of there. I would have done just about anything to escape from this hellhole.
Closing my eyes, I shifted back into my human form.
“Iris is on her way down here right now,” a familiar voice whispered. “And she’s got a gun.”
“Who are you?” I glanced around the dungeon, but I didn’t see anyone.
“I’m standing to the left of you right now, but you can’t see me. I’m invisible. You gotta keep your voice down or she’ll know I’m down here. She can’t know. I’m here to help rescue you.”
“How can you rescue me?” I found myself asking through whispers. “And how can I even trust you to rescue me? I don’t even know who you are.”
“I know it’s been a while, Princess, but do you really not remember me?”
I realized why his voice sounded familiar. I remembered it from a memory that I’d already unlocked from my past life. The memory from my life as Fallyn filled my mind. It was the night before I was supposed to marry Milos.
“You ready to get the hell out of here?”
“Yes, but how can I escape? The guards are going to be looking for me until they find me,” I insisted. “It’s the only way for them to stay alive.”
“That’s why you must leave Nocturne Island. You must go to Wolflandia, or maybe even the human realm.”
“The human realm?” I had heard tales of the human world before, but I had never been there. It had always piqued my curiosity, but never in a million years had I ever considered actually living there. I was a werewolf, and I had always been taught to believe that all werewolves were meant to live on Nocturne Island, or in Wolflandia. We weren’t supposed to intermingle with humans.