Mated By The Demon Collections: Paranormal Romance

by Riley Moreno

  After they had reached the house, Hazel had dashed off to her room, mumbling something about headaches and naps, but he had seen the look in her eye. Embarrassed, bashful. Jayce gladly would have taken the time to show her there was nothing to be shy or embarrassed about, but she had ducked away before he could think of the right thing to say.

  It didn’t help at all that he could still see her thoughts, and her thoughts were most definitely not shy at all. In fact, some of the images that had flashed through that mind of hers even had him blushing a little. The little minx.

  Jayce grinned to himself, but it slowly faded as he looked at Nika, who was walking, his expression thoughtful, just behind him. They didn’t need to speak of what had happened out in glade earlier to know how special it was, how rare that type of connection was.

  But there was something threatening that, threatening them all, especially Hazel. She had mentioned her grandmother’s notes detailing Eidolon’s rise to power, and also the fact that the dark spirit would only live until the next harvest moon unless he could find a way to kill the deliverer, kill Hazel.

  The thought alone had Jayce’s stomach turning, knots forming as the desire, the need, to keep her safe superseded all else, even that of self preservation. Because there was a real threat that the two dragon warriors wouldn’t survive past it either.

  They entered the old witch’s study, intent on finding answers of their own. It didn’t take them long to find the scribbled stack of yellowed pages, laying on the floor where Hazel had left them. Nika picked up the pile, quickly scanning the writing, his normally pale face turning even whiter as he read the words. Without speaking, he handed them to Jayce, his own heart beating faster as his golden eyes swept over the handwritten notes.

  The two men shared a long, silent look, still not saying anything. But they didn’t need to. They both knew they would do anything to keep Hazel safe, even if it meant giving up their own lives at the time of the next harvest moon. Jayce read the words again, hoping he had missed something, read something wrong.

  There was no mention of anyone beside Eidolon, but the wording about the curse of the imprisonment was very explicit. The prisoner would die if he didn’t shed the last unwilling drop of blood from the deliverer. Well, they had been prisoners just as much as Eidolon. Jayce glanced to the side, letting the papers fall again with a deep exhale.

  “We will do what must be done.” Nika said softly, but his voice could have cut glass it was so sharp. Jayce simply nodded, taking the knowledge for granted.

  “We will.”

  A noise from the hallway had them both jolting and Hazel’s dark haired head popped through the doorway, sending a dizzying wave of lust, and something so much sweeter, rushing through him. She narrowed her violet eyes on them suspiciously but he didn’t miss the downturned corners of her luscious mouth. Memories of those lips distracted him for a moment, but her next words cut through them.

  “The Mother Guardian is here,” She paused for a moment, swallowing hard. “She said, she said they found bodies. People,” Hazel had to stop again and Jayce barely contained the urge to go to her, to wrap his arms around her and tell her that everything was alright. Because the truth was, it really wasn’t alright.

  “People that were killed, found totally drained of their blood, their bodies were…anyways, you need to come down stairs. I need you to come down stairs with me.” She finally finished haltingly.

  There was a terror in her normally laughing eyes that had them both instantly doing as she asked, both wanting only to ease the fear and sadness washing through her. Again, for the millionth time since he’d met this incredible woman, he was caught off guard by her heartfelt sweetness, her kindness. Because foremost in her muddle mind wasn’t fear for herself, for her own life, but grief, thick and all encompassing for the lives that had been lost.

  Instinctively, they reached out their hands, and just as quickly Hazel grasped them, lacing her fingers through each as they made their way down the stair case together.

  The Mother Guardian was pacing restlessly in the small kitchen when they arrived, her normally serious face had more lines than just a few days ago, and a pallor that spoke of long, sleepless nights.

  “Good, you’re all here. It’s about time.”

  Jayce instantly forgave her snappish tone, it was obvious by the look in her dark gaze that she was just as afraid and uncertain as everyone else. His respect for her grew as she continued, her voice steady.

  “I’m sure Hazel has told you of the…unfortunate circumstances that have recently been discovered.” She barely waited for Hazel’s nod of agreement before speaking again. “We have put out that they were wild animal attacks, bears, wolves, that sort of thing, but if anyone looks close enough they will realize the lie.”

  “How many?” Jayce said, trying to keep his voice calm and detached.

  “How many what?” Elizabeth snapped.

  “How many people have been found?” He asked gently. She took a deep breath before answering his question.

  “Three, so far.” Her voice suddenly sounded thin and raspy as she spoke, as if she had been deflated by the news. “There might be more, we have teams out searching the Black Hills, but it’s a massive amount of land to cover and we just don’t have enough people to send.”

  “We have to go! We have to find him!” Hazel said, hot anger burning a deeper violet in her furrowed gaze.

  “Absolutely not!” Elizabeth immediately shot back.

  “No, Hazel is right,” Nika said slowly, “The more he kills, the stronger the dark spirit will become. If we can manage to catch him now, then we might just have a chance to stop him. The longer we wait, the more that he consumes…” he trailed off, not needing the say what they all knew.

  “And how exactly do you plan on catching him?” The Mother Guardian asked, her austerity back in place like a mask as she faced them.

  “I…well, I guess we will,” Nika paused, flustered for the first time in hundreds of years. “I guess we will have to figure that part out.” He finally finished weakly, and Elizabeth snorted in a way that actually had him blushing.

  “Figure it out. Just, figure it out. Hah!” She turned away, staring out at the clear blue sky for a long moment before saying anything else. “No, there has to be another way. Besides,” She said slyly, “you would have to take Hazel with you. Are you willing to put her in such danger?”

  “No, I mean, I didn’t think about–.”

  “That’s right. You didn’t think.” She shook her head, suddenly looking exhausted. “The council is working on a way to stop them, the most important thing is for you to stay here, and to stay safe.” Elizabeth sent them one long, hard look. “And above all, to keep Hazel safe from Eidolon.”

  “You know about that?” Jayce asked, his eyes wide in surprise and she snorted again, softer this time.

  “Of course I do. Hazel’s grandmother was a great woman and a dear friend. We often spoke of the things she was working on, helped her to think she always said. That dark spirit must not get his grubby hands anywhere near her, do you understand?”

  They both nodded hastily under her dark scrutiny and as soon as they did she turned sharply toward the door. “Good, now that that’s settled, I need to get back. If you have any other information to offer us about Eidolon, or how to stop him, send us a message. Hazel knows how. Now, stay out of trouble.” She enunciated the warning with a sever glare before stalking out of the small house.

  Hazel still stood with her mouth open, ready to speak but didn’t have the chance before she was gone. Finally, she forced the words out.

  “But, we have to go after him. Soon, he’ll be too strong for anyone to defeat, and you have already fought and beat him once.”

  “We didn’t beat him, Hazel. We all just lost together.” They were silent for a moment, absorbing the truth of Nika’s statement, but it didn’t deter her for long.

  “I’ll keep searching my grandmother’s study, we will f
ind a way, but we have to do something. We can’t just sit here like targets in the water waiting for him to gain strength and come after us, because he will.” She looked at them, her violet eyes wide with fear and trepidation, but also a steely resolve. “He doesn’t have a choice, and neither do we. Either we attack first, or we sit here and wait to die.”

  Hazel’s words rang through the now silent house, and silently, finally, the other two men nodded their agreement. It stuck in Jayce’s throat, but the fact was that she was right. They didn’t have a choice.

  “It will take a few days to get everything ready, in the meantime…” Jayce began to lay out what would need to be done, what preparations they would have to make to be ready. As if they could ever truly be ready for what was to come.

  Chapter 14

  “Hey, what are you still doing up?” Nika’s voice jolted her out of her half asleep stupor and Hazel rubbed her eyes, trying to focus on him in the dim light. After they had made a rough plan of action, she had spent the rest of the day going through every single book and paper in the study with a fine tooth comb, this time searching for a weapon, an enchantment, anything that would help them to defeat the dark spirit before he could destroy all of them.

  She looked at the clock on the desk, her eyes widening in surprise. She hadn’t realized how late it had gotten.

  “Come on, let’s get you to bed,” Jayce said from behind the other man, extending a hand to help her back to her feet. Her knees protested and she leaned into him for support, even though it was more than she strictly needed.

  “I’m really not tired,” Hazel murmured incoherently behind a yawn. But they could see the truth in her mind. Every night the nightmares were getting worse and worse, and in some cases, even dangerous. She remembered the fire she had started, singeing her bedroom, and then the flood of icy water. The true was, Hazel was afraid to go to sleep.

  “There is nothing to fear.” Nika said softly, reading her thoughts.

  “Oh really?” Hazel asked, one dark brow arched delicately, “What if I accidentally burn the house down on top of us, or conjure up a tornado that blows it apart, or, or…anything else that might hurt you.” She finished softly and Jayce pulled her even tighter into his arms.

  “It’s okay, Hazel, all of those times were okay.”

  “No, they weren’t. I could have hurt you, I could have…”

  “But you didn’t, and you won’t.” Nika said, grabbing one of her hands and guiding her towards her bedroom. “Come on, let us tuck you in.”

  They finally got her into bed and where about to leave when a sudden thought occurred to her, and she blurted it out before she could think better of it. “Stay with me.” Hazel paused, blushing a little. “Please, will you sleep in here with me?”

  The men both stopped, turning back towards her.

  “Please?” She said again, her voice soft and pleading, and she sighed a massive exhale of relief as they stepped closer, acquiescence shining in their eyes. Before long they were all tucked in, Hazel in her giant bed and the two men on the floor, each with a pallet of blankets and pillows on either side. She had been about to offer the bed but without looking at her they had grabbed the bedding from their own respective rooms and made up makeshift cots on the floor.

  Finally, the lights were turned out and Hazel pulled the quilt up high under her chin, snuggling into the down comforter and squeezing her eyes shut, trying to give in to the exhaustion that threatened to drag her under.

  And she laid like that for a long, long time, trying desperately to fall asleep, but the knowledge of their presence on the floor made it impossible. Finally, she gave up, throwing the blankets off in a huff.

  “Will you guys just come up here already, I can’t sleep with you on the floor.” There was a long silence before Jayce finally answered.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Hazel.” His voice was quiet but serious in the velvet dark.

  “Well, I won’t be able to sleep, so just get in bed, okay?” She paused for a moment, a teasing smile playing on her lips that she knew they felt even if they couldn’t see it. “I promise to keep my wandering hands to myself. Scouts honor.”

  Nika barked out a choked laugh. “I don’t think that’s what he’s worried about, little witch.”

  “Please, I need sleep. I’m exhausted and I can’t do that if I know you’re having to sleep on that hard floor. So, just do it, okay? For me?” She added, the last ounce of pressure they needed to have them standing and reluctantly crawling into bed with her. It was a king sized mattress, but even still they took up so much room she felt dwarfed laying there next to them.

  They lay there in silence and Hazel just listened to the heavy sound of their breathing.

  “Good night.” She whispered softly

  “Good night.”

  “Good night, Hazel. Go to sleep.” Came the muted replies. She smiled sweetly into the dark, finally at peace and able to drift off into a well needed slumber. Jayce and Nika were both awake for much longer.

  This time, when the nightmare came, it was so, so much worse. No fiery figures or floods of tears greeted her in the night. She was in her house, her grandmother’s house, but everything was wrong. None of the corners met up and it made her nauseous just to try, let alone take a step in the dizzying construction.

  It was dark outside, and she could hear beasts howling just outside the house, scratching at the walls, searching for any way in. Somehow she knew if they did it would be the end of her. It would all be over. She wanted to scream but no sound came out, just a choked grunt that had her grasping her hands to her throat in fear. But she immediately pulled them away as she felt the vicious claws at her neck.

  Hazel stared down in horror at the crooked, talon tipped, razor sharp claws that had replaced her own normal hands. Again, she opened her mouth to scream but only a shrieking howl emerged, piercing her ears and making her skin crawl at the noise.

  The creatures outside answered in a frenzy, growling louder and louder, making her skin itch uncomfortably at the hateful glee of the sound. Hazel turned, desperate to flee, but couldn’t move at all. She looked down, fear and dread like she’d never known flooding her body as her gaze landed on a pair of crooked, hair covered limbs, like the hind legs of some nightmare creature, twisted and half formed.

  “Please. Please, help me! Someone, help!” She tried to cry out, but only jumbled growls came out, and the beasts circling outside answered once more. A malicious laugh rang through the house that wasn’t her home, tuning her blood to ice in her veins as she searched blindly for the source.

  But all Hazel could see was the darkness. Darkness and pain and her own hideous reflection staring back of herself over and over, screaming in agony and then the screams would turn into the laughing, morphing in the darkness and starting all over again.

  Something changed, two of the monster images that was her becoming not her anymore, flickering into something else, something so much worse. Jayce and Nika stood before her now and she cried out at the sight of their dull, soulless eyes. Once so beautiful, so full of life, and now nothing, just…nothing.

  She tried to reach out to them but before she could move, they began to first, in erratic, jerky motions that had her jumping clumsily backwards in terror. Wide eyed she realized that there were roped like long, white worms connecting their arms and legs, tied in knots around their bodies guiding their unnatural movements.

  Hazel followed the ropes up and up with her frightened gaze, screaming again as her eyes collided with his. The dark one. The one that needed no name. His voice echoed maddeningly through her distraught mind, dragging like claws across her thoughts.

  “I am coming for you, deliverer. You are mine, sweet witch. Your soul, your body, you blood. It all belongs to me!”

  “No, no, no.” She whispered softly, desperately, to herself, squeezing her eyes shut as tight as she could, focusing all of her thoughts on the two dragon warriors. Not the dream versions, not the hal
f living puppets in front of her. But the real ones. The ones she knew were lying in bed next to her, sound asleep and probably dreaming sweet, peaceful dreams.

  With the sudden knowledge that she was in a dream, the room, the house itself, seemed to shift around her. All the doors and windows were thrown wide, and she knew, she just knew that the howling beasts outside were coming for her and her alone. They would eat out her heart, Eidolon’s voice whispered. They would tear her to shreds.

  But Hazel refused to open her eyes. Her hands clenched into fists so tight that little half moons were rising hot and bloody from where her nails bit into the flesh of her palm.

  “Please. Please. Please.” Hazel chanted, filling her mind with them and only them. With Jayce, so hot blooded and so generous, his spirit rang like a golden thread in her terrified mind. And then there was Nika, so quiet and calm, and yet underneath the placid exterior was an ocean deep enough to drown in. A silver thread met with the gold, twining together in knots too complicate for her to follow.

  Finally, she imagined herself, a bright gossamer string of pulsing violet and wrapped herself so tightly around the other two that should no longer tell where one began and the others left off.

  The nightmare surrounding her began to dim and Eidolon’s scream of rage echoed like fire through her brain, but there was another fire. This one burned so much hotter, the one that was all consuming and left no room for anything else, even the terror of the awful nightmare.

  Suddenly, she could feel them. The bed, solid beneath her. The warmth of two hard, male bodies pressed to her front and back, sandwiching her in between them, surrounding her. Then there were hands everywhere, hers, Jayce’s, Nika’s. It was impossible to tell them apart in the darkness but it didn’t matter. Blindly, she reached for them, grabbing for any inch of bare skin she could touch.

  It soothed her like a balm, healing the wounds left over from the nightmare dream, Jayce and Nika’s hands on her, running up and down her side, catching on the dip of her waist. The ample curves of her hip and upward, tickling across each rib like the keys on a piano until finally a set of hands cupped her tingling breasts. A sweet handful each with rosy, pink tipped nipples that puckered tightly under the talented fingers teasing them.