Forbidden Power

by Willa Hart

  Put down my stick? The grey wolf to my right, the biggest one, lunges and I point my stick at her. Ha! Even I, who doesn’t fight and was nearly decapitated when we were forced to take weapons classes as boys, knows that putting down my stick right now is a bad idea.

  Keeping the stick and provoking the pack is even worse, Meela thinks.

  Noted, I think. I have no way of communicating with them…how do I know that they won’t simply eat me alive…if I put down the stick? I turn my head and let my gaze land on each of the wolves. While they are giant, I’m unsure of their sentience. I want to believe you, Meela, that if in fact I choose to put down my branch that I will remain alive. However, at this moment, the facts as they are currently presented to me do not support your hypothesis.

  I am on the back of their Alpha, Meela thinks. He assures me of your safety.

  Oh he does, does he? Well, then that makes me feel entirely safe to put down the only weapon that I have. Might have stuck around and had a chat with his pack and told them!

  He says, Meela thinks to me, that if you do not lay down your weapon, they’ll attack you and force your submission. Because of their size it’s quite possible, although accidental of course, that they will break your neck when they force you to submit.

  Purely an accident, I think, of course. I jab the stick toward the light grey wolf on my right. An aggressive beast, she keeps moving forward. I believe she is their leader.

  Sharalla. Meela thinks. Her name is Sharalla. She is in contact with Rex.

  And Rex is? I think.

  Their leader and the wolf I ride. Speak her name so that she knows you can hear me.

  Really? I think.

  Really. Do you want to live Taraz? Please, I do not wish to see another Roya brother die.

  My heart drops to my toes. Meela is right. I’m unsure, but I may have lost both my brothers tonight.

  “Sharalla,” I shout. “Sharalla!”

  The grey wolf on my right pauses. She takes two steps back, her growl stops, and her snarl lessens. The rest of her pack remains on point with snarls and growls.

  “Sharalla,” I yell again, “I am putting down my stick.”

  Her snarl increases.

  I don’t believe she understands human, I think.

  She understands her name in human, Meela thinks. Put the stick on the ground and she will bring you to us.

  I take a deep breath. The last thing I want to do is put this branch down. It is the only thing that is between me and a pack of snarling wolves. All the size of my horse.

  Please, Taraz, please, Meela pleads through her thoughts. I wish to see you again. Please do not let me lose my only connection to Sarkany.

  If Sarkany is in fact dead, it is my obligation as his brother and a Roya Prince to protect his fated-mate. I can’t protect Meela if I’m dead or a midnight snack for a pack of Wolveskin. I may be able to protect Meela, if I can get to her, and the facts indicate that the best way to get to Meela now is to put down this branch and trust that Sharalla will do what her Alpha has demanded that she do.

  There are more uncontrolled variables in this experiment than any scientist would be comfortable with, and that makes me very uncomfortable with this scenario. More than uncomfortable. I’m downright terrified and nearly convinced that this entire experiment will result in failure and I’ll be dead in a matter of seconds.

  There are no other options.

  Take the risk. Put down the branch. Possibly get a ride to where Meela is OR keep the branch, continue to enrage the enormous Wolveskin, and have them attack me and either break my neck in the attack or rip me to shreds.

  “Sharalla,” I call to the giant grey wolf on my right. “I am putting down the branch,” I yell. Slowly, I kneel toward the ground and lay the branch onto the snow.

  My eyes meet Sharalla’s eyes. Her growl stops and so does her snarl.

  “Are we good, Sharalla?” I ask. “What do we do now?” I reach out my hand as one might to pat a dog, or at the very least let the dog smell you.

  Her lips pull back again to show me her teeth. Obviously, this was not the right tack to take. I step backwards and look around me. There are five giant heads, all with giant teeth, coming toward me.

  “Sharalla, I just did what I was told,” I say calmly. “I put down the stick.” I glance from an angry Sharalla to the rest of the pack, all of them inching forward and growling. “Oh no, Sharalla, why are you still looking at me as though I am meant to be a midnight meal?”

  Taraz, get on Sharalla’s back, Meela thinks.

  Easy for you to say! I think. She’s growling and baring her teeth. I tried—

  You cannot pet a Wolveskin, Meela thinks. It’s like flipping off a human. They aren’t dogs…it’s considered offensive.

  How would I know that!? I think. “Sharalla, I’m sorry!” I yell. “I didn’t know!” I hold up both my hands in the universal I didn’t know signal, pretty certain that will be the last thing I do before I meet the Goddess. The cold stone of the boulder behind me presses into my back. Yep, I’m done; the wolves are so close that if I reach out I could touch their teeth. I close my eyes ready to be ripped apart.

  The snarling stops.

  Get on her back, Meela thinks.

  I open my eyes and peer through my fingers. Sharalla stands with her side to me. She looks at me as though to say, come on human we have places to go.

  That’s exactly what she’s thinking, Meela thinks.

  I glance at the other four wolves that stand by Sharalla’s side.

  “Okay, Sharalla,” I say, slowly inching toward the wolf. “I’m doing this.” I reach out and grasp the fur on the back of her neck with my one good hand and swing my leg over her broad back. She’s a giant, so different than a horse, with thicker muscles running across her broad back. I lean forward and grasp her fur tight.

  She looks back at me. Her eyes black as night, with the silver circle of the Wolveskin around her pupil.

  “I can’t believe you are real,” I say. I’m a scientist—one that’s just made a new discovery. I smile. “This is unbelievable. You know, Sharalla, humans think Wolveskin are myths. I was raised to believe them fairytales told to children to keep them from wandering off into the Dark Forest.” I shake my head. “My Goddess, Sharalla, you and your kind are real!” I glance at the other wolves, two on each side of us. All of them look at me, and I swear there is a look of complete and utter annoyance over my words and my truly deep and incredible joy and surprise.

  “Look at me all you wish,” I say. “I’m excited about this discovery.” Before I can utter another word, Sharalla takes off, and hyperbole be damned, I feel like I’m riding the wind.

  Chapter 3Meela

  Memories of the Dark Forest stir within me as I ride through the night on the Wolveskin’s back. Are my memories real? Have I been here before? The pack barks at the moon around me as they run. Wind whips through my hair and I lean even closer to Rex’s back. His fur and his flesh warm me. His powerful muscles ripple beneath me as he lunges into the night.

  To be this strong…what must Rex the Wolveskin look like as a man? Perhaps even bigger than my Sarkany?

  Not bigger, but definitely smarter, Rex says in my mind.

  I set my mouth into a firm line.

  Ah, the Princess doesn’t like me to disparage her lover, Rex thinks. Again the dark silken laugh of the black Wolveskin enters my mind.

  He is more than my lover, I think. He is my fated-mate.

  The snow flies around me. Razor Mountain rises before us.

  Ah yes, the Roya and their fated-mates. I’ve heard how the Roya line requires a Queen to have at least three kings. Does it take that many human males to satisfy a single human woman?

  My face flushes with Rex’s thoughts; it’s not just his thoughts but the smooth and rough and sexual tone in my mind. As though his rough and sexy voice whispers in my ear. Along with his question about satisfaction, there is something about this Wolveskin I’m riding that cau
ses my body to respond in a way not unlike how I responded to Sarkany. Perhaps his very wildness? The fact that he is a man with a beast within?

  We climb the base of Razor Mountain and circle across many paths. The pack darts through a stream, and Rex leaps over a rock. He is point with a Wolveskin flanking him on either side. I catch the eye of the sentinel on my left. Her eyes lock with mine for an instant, but I do not hear her thoughts like I can hear Rex’s.

  How are you able to communicate with me?

  That’s a long answer to a very short question, Rex thinks. He leaps in the air, and I clasp tighter to his fur. My body jolts as he lands, and before me appears the cliff that will take us over the edge of Razor Mountain and into the abyss below.

  My heart jolts and I scream. I grasp even tighter to Rex’s fur and close my eyes.

  ***

  We’re home, Princess, Rex thinks.

  I slowly open my eyes. I am deep inside a cave, this entry room extending at least a hundred feet into the air. Fires are built in hearths and arches with ornate stonework decorate the grand room. Steel lanterns adorn the walls of the cave. The beauty and warmth of this place overwhelms me. Finally, after being attacked, wandering the forest, and being surrounded by Wolveskin, I feel…safe.

  “This…this is home?”

  In the room, wolf pups frolic; playing and teasing and yelping. Humans and wolves scurry about fixing meals and tending to the pack.

  I turn to Rex, still a Wolveskin. I start to speak, but my words are taken from me as he shifts before my eyes. His lupine nose falls back into his face, his eyes transition from the side of his snout to above his nose, fingers emerge from his paws, and his back legs shift to thighs.

  In an instant, he is human.

  Human. Male. And Naked. Very, very naked.

  Heat flushes through me. I keep my eyes fixed on his face, but can’t help but notice his body…his perfectly sculpted body with skin the color of night. His dark brown eyes with the silver line of the Wolveskin around his pupils. His broad chest and muscles, thick and corded, snake beneath his dark skin.

  I swallow. I halt the urge to reach out and stroke my fingertips across his chest.

  My King. The thought flashes through my mind before I can stop it. And for the first time, I hear Rex’s human out-loud laugh. His head tips way back and he does exactly what he’s been doing in my mind for hours—he laughs. A loud, silken laugh that could wake the Goddess with its joy and sexuality.

  “Perhaps ‘Alpha’ is the better choice of words,” he says.

  He’s not embarrassed or afraid of his nakedness. In fact, I feel within him a comfort of being in his body and his human skin. A comfort that I’ve never experienced for myself or sensed in any other human.

  “No,” he says, “we are very comfortable because we shift in and out of both forms. Sometimes we have clothes and sometimes we don’t. If I’m comfortable being naked in my wolf pelt, why wouldn’t I have the same comfort in my human skin as well?”

  Two women, both in human form and clothed, walk to Rex. He holds out his arms and they put a robe on his body. Not only do they clothe him, but they tie the robe as well.

  “That’s service,” I say.

  “I am the Alpha, it’s their duty,” Rex says out loud.

  Hmm…what other duties do they have?

  Rex’s wicked smile plays across his mouth. Princess? Really? he thinks. Asking me about my sex life when you’ve seen me naked, but I’ve yet to see your flesh?

  Heat floods my face and I’m quite sure even in the dim light of the cave, Rex knows of my embarrassment. “Those were my private thoughts,” I say.

  He tilts his head and that wicked smile fills his face. “I’m not sure you have any private thoughts anymore, Princess.”

  “That idea is horrifying,” I say.

  “I’m not sure how any of this works,” Rex continues. “I’ve never before been mind-linked to a human.” He takes two steps forward. “Nor this attracted to one either. It is”—he takes a deep breath as though catching my scent—“a compulsion.”

  My body quivers with desire. His lips are so close to my cheek, the heat of his breath whispers over my skin. “I smell your desire,” he whispers. “Never underestimate the olfactory senses of a wolf. There’s not much you can ever hide from me.”

  I lick my lips. Take a deep breath. My nipples harden.

  Rex steps back and nods to two Wolveskin in the shadows. They come to me just as a wave of nausea and dizziness overwhelms me. As though Rex knew. Each woman grasps an arm.

  “Meela,” Rex says suddenly all business. “We must tend to this wound. There is something very bad in that gash.”

  The salveskin lick that the Wolveskin used to relieve my pain and seal the gash is wearing off. The pain rushes into my mind, and a cramp rushes through my stomach. I bend, doubled over with discomfort. I feel as though I’ve been punched in the gut.

  “Take her to the infirmary,” Rex says. “Have Doctor Atta meet us.”

  The world spins; I feel very little other than the throbbing in my leg and the cramping in my stomach.

  “Hurry, I fear we have even less time than I thought. The scent of her flesh is necrotic. We must stop the infection before it reaches her heart.”

  Meela! A voice-shout enters my mind, but I don’t know if it really is in my mind or through my ears. I fall softly and quietly as my eyes close. The sound of puppies, yipping and yapping, oh so sweet to my ears. The darkness pulls me into a deep place, sounds are fading, and I’m falling, falling, falling…

  Meela! I grasp for the sound of the voice, trying to know who calls to me. Again, the voice and the entire world fades to black.

  Read the rest of The Forbidden Journey, Book 2 in The Harem of The Mindslayer Series HERE!

  Don’t Forget ALL the Harem of The Mindslayer Books!

  Prequel-Book 0: Forbidden Mindslayer: Harem of The Mindslayer

  Book 1: Forbidden Power: Harem of the Mindslayer

  Book 2: Forbidden Journey: Harem of the Mindslayer

  Book 3: Forbidden Union: Harem of the Mindslayer

  Book 4: Forbidden Love: Harem of the Mindslayer

  Book 5: Forbidden Queen: Harem of the Mindslayer

  Epilogue: Forbidden Offspring: Harem of the Mindslayer

  Also by Willa Hart

  Harem of Fire

  Book 0: The Glow of The Dragon’s Heart

  Book 1: The Spark of The Dragon’s Heart

  Book 2: The Heat of The Dragon’s Heart

  Book 3: The Flame of The Dragon’s Heart

  Book 4: The Fire of The Dragon’s Heart

  Book 5: The Blaze of The Dragon’s Heart

  Afterword

  Dearest Reader,

  Publishing a book is both terrifying and the best feeling in the world! If you like big roller-coasters it’s a little bit like that; excited to ride but terrified you might throw up. So THANK YOU! Thank you for reading Forbidden Power book 1 in Harem of The Mindslayer series. This is my second series (have you read Harem of Fire yet?) Go get it NOW, I’ll wait.

  I’ve spent the last year+ working on this series. As an established New York Times and USA Today best-selling romance author, I understand the pain of starting a series only to wait months, even years, for the next book, so when I decided to start this new reverse harem pen name I pledged to never start releasing a new series until the entire series was fully written. Which means I’ve been living with these characters for a very long time and — again — I’ve fallen in love with them!

  Meela is amazing. Empathetic and strong she has a HUGE secret and the weight of the world on her young shoulders; but it looks like she’s got at least two of the Roya Tripsett to help her and Jix too.

  The story of Meela and the Roya Tripsett, and Jix and one FANTASTIC SEXY beast you’ve yet to meet continues in book 2; Forbidden Journey. In it Meela takes a journey to save her life and the lives of the Tripsett and quite possibly the entire Kingdom. Check out the excerpt by cl
osing any popup your reader might show and moving on to the next page.

  If you want to stay up to date on my release schedule, get free content, and anything else fun I can think of, join my mailing list at www.willahart.com/go/list.

  Thank you for joining me on this exciting journey. I hope you’re having as much fun as I am!

  All my love,

  PS: If you have time, I’d be so very grateful if you left a review on Amazon, Bookbub, or Goodreads. Post about the book or series in your favorite Facebook reading groups.

  About the Author

  Just like everyone else in the world, Willa Hart hates talking about herself. Seriously, what’s she supposed to say? That she’s the most talented author in the world? That Liam Hemsworth, Zac Efron and Michael B. Jordan are knocking down her door for the honor of starring in the big-screen adaptation of her latest romance novel? That readers get into hair-pulling, kidney-punching, nipple-twisting brawls while standing in line to buy one of her books?

  LIES!

  Just like every other wordsmith, she’s certain everything she writes (including her own bio) sucks big, fat, hairy donkey danglers. But deep down she hopes and prays you are just a little bit delusional and think she is a great writer, that Liam, Zac and Michael would be idiots to not want a part in her movie, and that you’d twist every perky nip you could get your fingers on just to look at her new book. Of course, she’s not holding her breath, but…can’t a girl dream?

  Join Willa’s mailing list to get free bonus content, sneak peeks and exclusive giveaways! Sign up here ➜ www.willahart.com/go/list

  Join her Facebook reader group, Willa’s Harties ➜ www.facebook.com/groups/willas.harties

  Visit www.willahart.com to learn what’s coming next!

  Copyright © 2019 by Willa Hart

  All rights reserved.

  Cover art by Yocla Designs

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.