Midnight Flame and Crowns : a Shifter and Demon Fantasy Romance Boxed Set

by Meg Xuemei X

  “How many do you have?” he grated. “How many elaborated lies have you woven?”

  I tilted my head back to leer at him, still not willing to leave his arms. “I don’t know,” I said carelessly. “I don’t weave elaborated lies.”

  “The First Witch never headed south,” he said, staring hard at me and watching me closely to catch more lies. “But you wanted to go to the Twilight Realm to get the cure, so you pointed the wrong direction and drag us along with you.”

  “I didn’t drag you along. You followed me. More precisely, you forced me.”

  “Another outrageous lie.”

  The prince always figured things out a step later, but it wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t the first time I’d lied to him. He’d have to get over it and move on, instead of looking pissed.

  “If you kill me now, you’ll just end my suffering earlier,” I said. “I have nothing to lose. As for you, you’ll have to go back to consult your Oracle again.”

  “Who said I was going to kill you?”

  “You looked like it.”

  “You don’t know anything about my look,” he said darkly. “You led us across the continents chasing the ghost, just so you can get the cure. Why did you lie about such an important matter?”

  “Like I had a choice?” I said. “I’ll be useless to you if I’m too sickly or die on the road. In order to find the witch for you, I need to get the cure first.”

  “I didn’t mean looking for the witch was that important. I meant your curse. You should have told tell me right from the beginning, so we wouldn’t have wasted so much time. We could have flown straight to the Fey realm.”

  “But all you want is your witch.”

  “And you thought I’d let you die for that?”

  He would, wouldn’t he? She was everything he could dream of.

  Our fucking had changed nothing. It meant nothing. And I was everything but delusional.

  He sighed. “Have you ever trusted anyone? Do you even know how?”

  “I don’t think ‘must trust people’ is part of my job description,” I said.

  “We’re changing the plan. We’re going to Mysth to get you the cure.”

  “I propose we part our ways from here,” I said. “I’ll go for it myself. You and your men can turn around and go north to find the witch.”

  “I won’t let you out of my sight,” he growled.

  “What about your witch? Don’t you want to find her sooner?”

  “She can wait.”

  A week ago, he wouldn’t have let her wait. He’d been searching for her in great desperation.

  “I don’t want you to waste time on me,” I said.

  He sneered. “Still plan to run away from me?” There was deep hurt and anger in his eyes.

  “Where can I run? There’s only one place I can go and you know where now.”

  “I won’t abandon you, Freyja. You’re my responsibility and I’ll always keep you safe. But for your lack of faith in me, you’ll suffer a consequence.”

  “What consequence?” I asked.

  Heat rose in his molten-gold eyes again.

  My pulse spiked. Oh, damn.

  He flipped me over and had me on all fours.

  I’d heard that Dragonian males always preferred to fuck their females from behind.

  “As a punishment,” he said hoarsely, raw lust laced in his voice. “You’ll do whatever I want.”

  He lifted my ass, his hand coming around to fondle my breast before moving down to brush my pussy.

  A hot, hard steel rod was at my entrance, ready to invade my private domain.

  I moaned heartily as his large, hard length drove inside me.

  I guess I could live with that punishment.

  We fucked for hours. I no longer needed to worry that he would leave me wanting. I would enjoy the maximum joyride while it lasted.

  I, Freyja, the First Witch, lived only for the moment.

  “I never expected this,” he said in awe. “It’s like you’re made for me.” He pumped his hot seed inside me just as Mettalum roared in the air before he could roar in pleasure.

  Suddenly, all the guardians bellowed in fury.

  “Your Highness,” Ventus shouted outside our tent. “We’ve got company!”

  CHAPTER 10

  The ThunderSong

  Ares pulled out of me with a string of profane curses.

  I hurried to pick up my other set of travel clothing since my other attire had burned when my skin raged with the cursed fire.

  “You stay here. Find cover,” Ares ordered, as he swiftly hauled on his sculpted armor.

  Like hell I would.

  “I’ll come back for you, Freyja,” he said. “Don’t run away from me. I can get you to Mysth faster than anyone can.” He grabbed me and kissed me on the mouth. It was a quick, hard kiss, yet pleasure and thrill still buzzed on my skin.

  With Ares, this would never get old.

  The prince charged out of the tent with his weapons.

  I put on my gloves and ran out after him.

  Ares mounted Ventus. His men had all been on the guardians’ backs, battle ready. Ignis and Glacies hadn’t completely recovered, but war wouldn’t wait.

  Ventus stretched his wings and soared after his brethren.

  Wait, Ventus! I called as I flew up, twisted in the air, and landed on the guardian’s tail.

  Nice jump, Witchling, Ventus said.

  Ares turned to me with a snarl. “What are you doing, Freyja?”

  “Going to war with you, Your Highness,” I said as I moved toward the seat. “Am I not your soldier, as you said?”

  “Can’t you follow a simple order?” he yelled, his eyes burning darkly. “Why must you defy me at every turn while all I want is to keep you safe?”

  “You think the ground is safer with no one defending me?”

  “My enemies will focus on me!”

  “Your half-brother Keegan heard of the Oracle as well. He’s after me, too. He won’t stop until you’re dead and I’m his.”

  Rage flashed in Ares’ eyes. “He’ll never have you.”

  “You’re where it’s safer for me,” I said. “Have you thought that they can snatch me easily while you’re in the air?”

  Not that easy, but I wouldn’t contradict myself.

  “Stay behind me,” Ares ordered. “You’ll be my shadow and you’ll always take shelter behind me. Understand?”

  Like hell I would.

  I saluted. “Yes, Commander-in-line.”

  He twisted his torso, reached to grab me, afraid I would fall off, and settled me behind him.

  Ventus sped up and joined the rest of the guardians soaring toward the looming battleship that had the name Insurgent on its lion-like head.

  The ship had a view window, a thick, round body, and a flat tail. Its wings were like a bat’s, only larger, thicker, and hostile.

  If I had never seen the images of the Angels’ advanced, refined battleships in the memories of the dead Angels, I would be fascinated with this rudimentary flying machine.

  But it wasn’t a toy. It aimed to maim, to kill, and to destroy. It had fought the Angels during the war, and it was the only Earth battleship that hadn’t been destroyed by the High Prince of All Angels.

  A large Dragonian with blue horns stood by the view window, staring at us with a victorious sneer on his cruel lips. I immediately recognized him through the Dragonian whom I’d killed in the woods. This was Ares’ pure-blood half-brother Keegan.

  He was the one who had sent the mercenary army to kill the heir and capture me. After I’d talked Ares out of heading to the safe house, the bounty hunters had failed to track us. So Keegan had come in person to finish Ares off. If he succeeded, he would force me to take him to the First Witch. He would abuse me and rape me in the process, as he’d done to so many other women.

  Luckily, he didn’t know anything about my death touch, and I’d be glad to let him enjoy a full taste of it.

  Flanking
him on either side were two other mean-looking Dragonian warriors. They carried full sets of angelic weapons.

  The guardians were in a battle mode. Glacies moved toward the rear of the battleship. Mettalum took the position at the ship’s side, ready to bite into its hull. Ventus swirled up to face the view window at Ares’ order.

  Ignis was beside us, a stream of fire trampling out of his mouth and spurting onto the window. But his fire had no effect on the glass—it was probably made of special angelic material that could resist earthling weapons.

  “Hello, brother.” Keegan’s sinister voice came out of this ship, which made me want to claw at my skin.

  Ares stared back at his half-brother through the window. I couldn’t see his expression, but I felt his cold, murderous rage.

  “So, this is it?” Ares asked, his voice devoid of any emotion. “You came to take my life, so you can take my crown, Keegan?”

  “A half-blood like you shouldn’t be allowed to inherit the throne,” Keegan said. “But I’ll make a deal with you today. I’ll let you live if you hand over the wolf girl.”

  “The asshole’s lying,” I shouted from behind Ares.

  Keegan wouldn’t let the heir live even if Ares gave me up. The pure-blood prince wanted to play first. He wanted to take me in front of his brother and humiliate Ares before he killed him.

  “Why do you want her?” Ares asked.

  “You know I like firecracker females,” Keegan said. “I bet the wolf girl has the beast heat in her and I want to savor it. I’m a male of insatiable appetite, and she might be the first female who can satisfy me. My cock gets hard just by looking at her.”

  “What makes you think I’ll hand you what’s mine?” Ares asked.

  “Because I might let you live!” Keegan yelled.

  “Cunt, take this!” Ares spat as he tossed a spear at the view window.

  At the same time, he and his men shot energy beams toward the Insurgent.

  The ship opened fire.

  The guardians wheeled aside speedily, ducking the enemy’s fire, while their riders kept firing at the ship.

  Fortunately for us, the Earth battleship hadn’t developed the Angels’ space technology. Though the engineering race had stolen some data from the Angels, they couldn’t truly perceive and absorb the advanced alien science.

  Though Insurgent didn’t have high energy weapon at its disposal, it was still lethal as it shot out a barrage of bullets.

  Earth weapons couldn’t kill me, but those angelblades-turned-bullets would.

  In pure panic, I threw up my hands.

  To my surprise, a force field erupted out of me and shielded Ventus, Ares, and me, but I wasn’t sure if it was effective.

  Some form of my magic came only when my life was in absolute mortal danger.

  At the same time, a gold shield appeared in Ares’ hand and he raised it to block the bullets. But those Angel-killing bullets bounced back before reaching his shield, which meant that my force field had held.

  The guardians’ riders kept firing beams at the enemy ship, but those laser beams only sparkled off its thick hull.

  Insurgent had the shield technology.

  With deafening roars, the four guardians tore into the battleship as one, despite the bullets piercing their scales.

  An intense beam of light shot down from the high sky, locking on Insurgent.

  Insurgent powered down at once.

  A larger, silvery spaceship materialized above us. It was an Angel ship—the famous ThunderSong—that had helped defeat the Dark Lord of All Angels. It was the High Prince Seth’s ship.

  The intense beam turned and twisted Insurgent.

  In front of my eyes, the pure-blood prince’s battleship disintegrated from the middle and plunged toward the ground in shreds of fireballs.

  The Angel High Prince forbade earthlings from possessing any flying machine, in order to make sure the immortal Fey stayed superior to any other races on Earth. When it came to protect his Fey mate, he was borderline paranoid and unreasonable.

  His ship had just destroyed the last, secret Earth battleship.

  The guardians were fast enough to retreat to avoid the burned shekels flying in all directions. They were ready to charge the ThunderSong. However, they wouldn’t stand a chance. None of us would.

  ThunderSong was one of the Angels’ finest battle spaceships.

  The mighty spaceship lowered altitude.

  A large Angel with massive black wings stood at the view screen, black-inked tattoos of ancient runes twined from his temple all the way down to his neck. Evidently, he was a high-ranking Archangel.

  Standing beside him as his equal was an exotic mortal beauty, who could make any man’s blood race too fast, yet none would dare make a move on her. But the formidable Angel wrapped his thick, muscled arm around her slim waist possessively.

  Icy light radiated on her almost transparent pale skin and darkness rippled around her. My heart skipped a beat. I’d just met another powerful witch from another planet. She wore three pieces: breastplates and leather shorts and high boots. No females on Earth dressed like that, not even a warrior.

  The pair regarded us and the guardians, as if pondering if they should vanquish the flying alligators first. They’d just annihilate a battleship and hadn’t blinked. Mercy wasn’t their strong suits.

  My heart drummed. My throat tightened.

  Ares shoved the gold shield toward me and ordered, “Cover yourself!” and raised his ray gun.

  I pushed his shield back and stood up on the seat.

  “Freyja!” Ares said. “What did I say about being my shadow? Now’s not the time to attract attention. Stay down!”

  “Now’s the perfect time,” I said, moving like a flash and cutting in before him.

  I stood on Ventus’ head.

  “No,” Ares called, also standing up and trying to get me behind him.

  “Do not interfere if you want to get out of this,” I hissed.

  I pushed my commanding voice into the ThunderSong, yet I had no clue if it would work.

  “You shall not harm us,” I called in ancient angelic tongue. “I have safe passage with Empress Rose. I have her imprint.”

  I pulled back my left sleeves and showed the mark gifted by the Fey Empress—a red rose with thorns on an angelblade. My mother had passed the symbol of a life debt owed by the Empress on to me at my birth.

  The symbol beamed on my wrist.

  The Archangel stared at my mark and nodded as the witch said something to him. Then she flicked her wrist.

  A force hit me, sucking me into its vortex. I threw my hand to fend it off, but I was too late.

  Before I could finish a panicked thought, I stumbled before the pair in the bridge of the ThunderSong. I stabilized myself and sent a glare at the witch, then at the Archangel.

  The witch from the other world regarded me as a cat studied a mouse with her piercing grey eyes. Only I wasn’t one.

  “What is this?” I demanded.

  She ignored me but addressed the Archangel. “Gabriel,” she purred, breathing out frosty air. “Look, here’s another witch.”

  “A wicked one?” Gabriel asked, looking at me, then returned his gaze to his witch, as if she was his whole world.

  Would Ares ever look at me like that for even a second?

  The witch laughed darkly. “There’s only one wickedest witch, darling.”

  “Of course, Fia,” Gabriel said, brushing a kiss on her rose red lips. “But promise me you won’t get into a power match with Empress Rose. She’s Seth’s mate, and Seth and I are like brothers.”

  “Then you’ll have fun choosing either your mate or your brother,” she said.

  A wicked witch indeed.

  But I didn’t blame her. I approved. Didn’t all women want our men to choose us above all? I wondered what the wicked witch would do in my shoes if she knew her man coveted another. Given her nature, I believed that she would knee Ares in the nuts a thousand times ov
er.

  I was too nice.

  “Fia, be reasonable,” Gabriel said. “Aren’t I enough for you that you must stir up trouble every other day?”

  “Fine, darling,” the wicked witch said. “For you, I’ll make peace with Rose—and thorn.”

  The Archangel kissed her in gratitude. She really had him wrapped around her icy fingers. I’d have loved to learn a trick or two on how to tame your formidable mate if I had more time.

  The witch kissed the Archangel back with great passion.

  “Hey,” I called impatiently. “Get a room. But first, why am I here? You have no right—”

  The witch broke their heated lips-locking.

  “The Dark Lord wants her power as well,” she said.

  My heart skipped a beat. “How did you know?” I asked. “And what do you know?”

  “Of course I know,” Fia said, turning to me. “I’m the greatest and wickedest witch. I know all things in the universe.”

  Her Archangel smiled at her. I sighed. He could see no fault in her. Even if she stabbed a dagger into his heart, he would still enjoy the wicked sight of her.

  Why couldn’t I have that kind of power over Ares?

  Thinking of Ares, I peeked outside the view screen to see what he was up to and if he was worried about me. But he was gone, as were his men and all the guardians.

  Cold bastard! Tears of rage nearly rose to my eyes. How convenient that he’d just abandoned me as fast as he could to preserve himself!

  “Embrace your darkness, Witchling,” Fia said in disapproval. “Our kind never fears our great, terrible powers.” She flicked a finger, and a silver bracelet clutched on my wrist.

  Strange runes etched on the bracelet.

  “What is it?” I hissed, trying to pull it off. “I don’t want it!”

  “Oh, you do,” she said. “Either I kill you or you wear it, so the old creep can’t snatch you away easily. I can’t allow him to have your power, which will make it more difficult for me to ice him. But today I’m in a benevolent mood because of my loving mate, so instead of killing you myself to prevent him from getting his hands on you, I’m giving you a fighting chance. But before I leave Earth, you’ll have to return the borrowed gift, or I’ll hunt you down to the end of the end.”