The Beast's Chosen (Astral Heat Book 3)

by Hunter, Ashley

  “I don’t see him as any other guy. I see him as our boss,” I shifted uncomfortably, grateful that I could easily make my exit before she inquired further, “All right, I’m taking off. You have a blast for me, okay? Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  Tina grinned, and pulled me into a hug, “Well, at least I know what to work with. Get home safe, girlie.”

  I had hoped to set out before it got too dark, but the house was still jam-packed with partiers, crowding the stairs, running in the hallways, and dancing out on the patio. I waved cheerfully to my fellow employees; I had hoped to find Trent and thank him for inviting me, but couldn’t spot him in the crowd. I smiled to myself wondering if he’d snuck off for another quickie in the woods with Chris’ new ex-girlfriend.

  Sunset was bleeding into black as I finally stepped out onto the cabin’s lawn. I paused for a last look at the view, drinking in the first pinpoints of starlight in the sky. They were crystal-clear out here in the dark woods, far from the pollution and city lights, sprayed in among the outreaching tree branches and sparkling on the serene surface of the lake.

  I let a brief moment of silly happiness flood through me; looking at stars always made me feel like a kid again, with dreams of rocket ships and space adventures on distant moons.

  When I’d finally firmly fixed the view in my memory, I turned and began to make my way down the long, winding drive. Most of us had parked a mile off from the cabin, so that the lawn and surrounding area were completely free for whatever drunken lawn games people concocted.

  I pulled out my keys, gripping them between my fingers, a useful way to defend myself I’d pick up in a Tae Kwan Do class years ago, but there was no need. Nobody was going to attack me here in the quiet beauty of the north woods.

  Soon the lights of the cabin had all but receded, leaving me with nothing but the moon and starlight to guide my way. My footsteps thudded softly on the gravel, my duffel bouncing against my back. The moon was full tonight, so I could easily make out the path, the trees, and the cars that slowly materialized around me. I wandered casually, scanning the rows for the oldest, cheapest model, which would undoubtedly be my car. I’d just spotted my telltale rusted bumper when suddenly, just beyond the path, I heard a sharp yell.

  I froze where I stood, trying to swallow down my thumping heart. My brain quickly caught up with my panic; it was just some party-goer, venturing even further out into the woods. I quickly scanned the trees, searching for signs of a flashlight or a phone screen. I saw nothing… but of course, they might be so drunk, they didn’t even realize they were so far from the cabin.

  I paused, momentarily caught by indecision; should I go help them? Then again, what if there were actually multiple people, and they’d come out this far to get a little privacy? They wouldn’t thank me for interrupting them.

  I’d just resolved to turn back to my car when the yell came again. It was further from the path now, and certainly not in the direction of the cabin. I was certain it was a man’s voice… and I was fairly certain he was afraid.

  With a sigh, I adjusted the duffel on my shoulder, and began to move in the direction of the voice. Never being much of a drinker myself, I’d spent most of my college career taking care of my friends after nights out, and I still couldn’t bear to let someone stumble around when I could help. Walking a drunken partygoer back up the cabin wouldn’t take too much time; I could still be back in the city with enough time to do a little work.

  The forest on either side of the path was well-maintained, but the further I ventured from it, the heavier the vegetation grew. I fished out my phone, and used the glow of the screen to slowly pick my way through the brush. I listened hard for the shout to come again, hoping the man hadn’t passed out. He hadn’t; I could hear voices, at least 20 feet away, and they sounded as if they were arguing.

  I crept closer, doing my very best not to trip, straining to make out their words. Did they come all the way out here to hash something out? Was I intruding? I was just considering turning back when I finally heard them clearly.

  “Please… please!”

  Trent. That was Trent’s voice! Except it was a Trent I had never heard before, begging, afraid.

  I pushed my way through the trees, trying to hurry, trying to ignore my clothes catching on the branches. I could just make him out ahead of me, in a small clearing, the moonlight illuminating the terror on his handsome face. He was sprawled on the ground, curled up into a ball, clutching his knees.

  He cried out again, “Please, please, stop! Stop, I’ll do anything!” His voice was ragged with pain.

  I opened my mouth to call out to him. I was only a few feet away, I could reach him in just a few steps. My voice died in my throat as I saw a shadow slide across the clearing and settle between Trent and me.

  I couldn’t say why, but that shadow sent a chill over my entire being. I quickly slipped behind a pine tree, praying whatever the shadow belonged to hadn’t seen me.

  “Anything. You’ll do anything,” replied a male voice, deep and melodic.

  “Yes, please!” Trent gasped.

  I slowly pushed the branches aside, trying to get a better look. I could still see Trent on the ground, now on his hands and knees, taking long gasps of air. The shadow’s owner stood with his back to me, the trees wrapping his features in darkness.

  The most I could make out was that he’d be about a foot taller than me. I didn’t recognize the voice at all; it was like someone had run their voice through some kind of auto-tune app that made everyone sound like a movie star.

  “Is that better?” the stranger asked quietly.

  “What-who are you?” Trent demanded, glaring up at the tall man, “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

  The man’s hand flashed, and suddenly Trent was on his back, screaming up into the woods. I threw my hands over my mouth to stifle my gasp. What was going on?

  “Don’t tell me you don’t recognize me,” the stranger said over Trent’s screams, his tone cold. His hand flashed again, and Trent stopped, though he stayed prone on the dirty forest floor.

  “I’ve… I’ve never seen you before… We’ve never met. I don’t know who you are!”

  The stranger laughed, without a hint of amusement, “Oh, how you lie. That’s all you people do for entertainment, isn’t it? Lie, to yourselves, to each other.”

  “I don’t-” Trent began, but the stranger cut him off with a wave of his hand. Trent’s body convulsed, his spine arching up off the ground, but no sound left his lips.

  “Promise you will spare me your lies, and I will let you scream,” the stranger said. Trent nodded vigorously, and the stranger waved his hand again, seeming to release him.

  I tried to take deep breaths through my nose. I couldn’t be seeing what I thought I was seeing. Maybe this was some kind of elaborate prank of Trent’s…

  The stranger knelt down beside him, and continued, still in the same soft, cold tone, “You said you would give me anything. Did you mean it?”

  “Yes,” Trent croaked.

  The stranger reached out, letting the moonlight spread across his open hand. On his thumb, he wore an elaborate gold band with a large ruby embedded into the metal. He turned his hand slowly, and it seemed as if the ruby caught fire, its flames dancing over his skin. Trent’s face looked pale and sickly in the warmth of its glow.

  Gently, almost as if he was touching a dear friend, the stranger laid his hand on Trent’s chest. “Give me riches,” he ordered softly.

  “Yes,” Trent agreed, his voice desperate.

  “Give me women,” the stranger demanded.

  “Yes, any woman you want, I swear.”

  “Give me everything you have, everything you could have, everything you are.”

  “Anything!” Trent cried, “I’ll give you anything, just let me go!”

  The stranger leaned forward into the light, the shadows melting away from his features. I felt another shiver overcome me… though, I forced myself to admi
t, perhaps not from fear this time. The stranger was a Greek statue come to life, his well-defined jaw perfectly shaven, his hair a tumble of dark, unruly curls.

  My breath caught in my throat as he looked down on Trent, his expression like a gathering storm cloud. He was simultaneously the most handsome and the most terrifying man I had ever seen.

  He leaned closer to Trent, and for a moment, it almost looked like he would brush his lips against the young man’s forehead. Instead, he bent so his mouth was just beside Trent’s ear.

  Suddenly, Trent began to scream in true agony, an ear-piercing wail of pain. The stranger’s ring really did seem to be on fire, and the fire was moving across Trent’s body, swallowing up his clothes and then his skin, slowly burning down into his very bones. I wanted to look away-tried desperately to look away, but could not tear my eyes from them. Trent’s screaming and the fire seemed to go on and on until at last, there was nothing left of him but a pile of ash.

  The stranger stood up slowly, nonchalantly brushing himself off.

  I turned and ran. I shouldn’t have; my brain was shouting that I should have stayed, should have hidden, and should have waited until the stranger was safely away. But I could still smell burning flesh; still see Trent’s expression as the fire slowly climbed into his mouth.

  And now, I was screaming, screaming as I ran blind through the forest. I shoved through trees and brush, and somewhere I lost my duffel. I didn’t dare go back. I pumped my legs as fast as they would go, desperately trying to find the path, to find my way back to help.

  At last I saw it, the path, the line of cars, just ahead of me, just a little out of reach. I threw myself towards the gap in the trees, but instead of finding gravel, I instead collided with something solid. I stumbled backwards, landing hard on my back-and standing in front of me was the stranger.

  I cried out, scrambling to my feet, trying to race away from him. Yet suddenly, he was in front of me again, even though it would have been impossible for him to move that fast.

  “How did you-?” I shouted, and realizing how stupid I sounded, quickly tried to dart around him. I always considered myself quick on my feet, but apparently, he was quicker; his hand closed around my arm before I’d even gone a step.

  “Let me go!” I tried to jerk myself from his iron grasp.

  “If you don’t stop struggling, I will break your arm,” he replied calmly.

  I glared at him with all of the hate and bravado I could muster. “Go ahead,” I growled, “I don’t expect anything less from a cold-blooded murderer like you.”

  It could have been my imagination, but his expression seemed to grow slightly colder, as if his blue-gray eyes were icing over. Without warning, he seized my other arm, and whirling me around, clutched both of my wrists together.

  “What are you doing?” I demanded, trying to keep the panic from my voice, “If you’re going to kill me, just do it!”

  He didn’t answer; instead, I could feel something slick and heavy slowly wrapping itself around my hands. It coiled around my wrists like a snake, before beginning to wind around my waist, and down my legs.

  “What is this?” I cried, trying to twist out of the ever-expanding rope. It wouldn’t let me move an inch. “Help! Please, someone, help!”

  “Quiet!” the stranger commanded.

  “Help-!” I felt his hand against my mouth, smothering my cries. I tried to snap at his fingers, to fight my way back out, but I was completely helpless against the strength of his grip. All the fight seemed to be leaving my body, and abruptly I realized that the world was slowly going dark at the edges.

  I could feel his arms underneath me, picking me up off the forest, which was probably a good thing, as I was suddenly dizzy and lightheaded. I had just enough time to register how warm his arms felt, before everything around me went black.

  2: THE CAPTIVE

  I had to hand it to Trent. I couldn’t recall the last time I had slept in such a luxurious bed, and woken feeling so refreshed. It was as if my unfinished work projects were thousands of miles away. I lazily stretched, letting myself doze a few more minutes after waking, thrilling in the feel of the soft, silky sheets against my skin, breathing in the divine perfume of fresh laundry.

  In the distance, I could smell pancakes and bacon cooking, the aroma drifting up even to here on the third floor of the cabin. The house was amazingly quiet, with just the gentle sound of bubbling water breaking the silence. The partying must have been extra hard last night, I assumed. Trent was probably-

  Trent.

  Awareness hit me like a spray of ice water. Trent! The woods, the stranger. Trent was-Trent was dead. And I was-

  I threw aside the covers and sat bolt upright, panic jolting me fully awake. My mouth instantly dropped open. My friends loved to joke that it’d require some kind of gag to ever render me speechless, but in that moment, I was truly struck dumb. I was absolutely not in my bedroom in the cabin. In fact, though I couldn’t solidly say why, I wasn’t even certain I was on Earth.

  I seemed to be in a massive cavern.

  The bed on which I sat stood on a raised platform at one end; from there, the walls curved upwards into a dome ceiling some hundred feet above my head. Everywhere I looked, the walls glittered with some strange, ethereal light, and I realized there must have been thousands of small crystals embedded into the dark stone.

  A closer examination of the ceiling revealed a giant mass of jagged glass right at the apex of the dome that spread light throughout the entire cave, like a natural-forming chandelier.

  The ground was even more impressive. Instead of a pebble-strewn floor, soft, emerald-green grass covered every inch from the corner of the raised platform to the walls. I cautiously poked a mound with my toe; I could feel velvety dirt just below the grass blades.

  Just a few feet beyond my bed ran a small, clear brook, gaily tripping over stones as it flowed from a waist-high waterfall just beside me. The whole place smelled lush and full of life. I had never seen a cave this beautiful.

  I violently shook my head to clear it. Who cared how beautiful it was; where was I? And where was the stranger? Had he brought me here?

  As if in response to my silent question, a section of the wall suddenly quivered, and gave way. I leaped back with a yelp, but the wall quickly rebuilt itself behind the figure who stepped into my cavern. Although he wore a linen-like shawl that covered all of his face but his eyes, I recognized the intense gaze immediately.

  The stranger.

  My first thought was that he was dressed like an adventurer- tall, supple leather boots that hugged his well-shaped calves, brown trousers with holsters strapped to both of his hips, and a form-fitting white linen shirt that seemed to grow more transparent the longer I looked at it.

  His sculpted, bare arms and hands were covered with grime; without so much as a glance at me, he casually walked up to the brook and, kneeling down, began to splash water onto himself, slowly cleaning away the layering of dirt.

  As soil gave way to skin, I saw that he seemed to emit a faint glow, as if a small bit of fire ran just beneath the surface, mixing with his blood. Perhaps that’s why his arms were so warm, I thought, and then quickly shoved the memory away.

  “Where am I?” I made my best attempt to keep my voice steady, but even to me, it sounded pathetic and weak. I cleared my throat, and tried again, “Tell me where I am, right now!”

  He stood up, nonchalantly drying his hands on his pants. His silence made me want to scream, but I swallowed down my frustration. I had to be brave, and clever, for there was no doubt I was in the gravest danger.

  “If you’re not going to kill me, then please, at least tell me where I am.”

  “Kill you?” the stranger repeated, unconcernedly, “If I was going to kill you, I would have already done so.”

  “That isn’t as comforting as you think,” I crossed my arms, “So, then, will you please tell me where I am?”

  The stranger reached up, and pulled the linen shawl
from his head. He was just as unnervingly attractive as he’d been; even more so, now that ample light allowed me to see all of his features fully.

  His linen shirt was undone just enough that I could make out the indentation at the base of his throat, and the line of his collarbone tapering off into broad, well-muscled shoulders…

  I quickly jerked myself back into focus. “Uh-what did you say?”

  “I asked, what is your name,” he replied with a small smile that was a little too knowing.

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  PREVIEW OF ‘AUCTIONED TO THE JAGUAR’ BY ASHLEY HUNTER

  ~1: Bright Lights, Big Trouble~

  The night was dark and full of shadows as Molly Clark sped away from her hometown. Nostalgia tugged at her, urging her to look back, but she kept her chocolate brown eyes ahead, already on the lookout for the bright skyline of the city, although she was still a good hour out. The only thing tying her back to that place, full of disasters and hard lessons, was gone. In her mind, she saw her grandmother’s warm smile on that final day. “Get out of here, my love,” her grandmother’s straining voice encouraged her, “Go out and find what you were meant to do.” Finally, that was exactly what she was doing.

  Her phone’s display flashed on, displaying the grinning photo of herself alongside her best childhood friend. Molly pressed the “Receive call” icon to a loud clamor of excited babble on the other end. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, are you there yet?”

  Molly good-naturedly resisted rolling her eyes at her friend’s exuberance, “Dina, I’ve barely even left!”

  “Well yeah,” Dina Ford let out an exasperated sigh, “But I’d have thought you’d be driving, like, 100 miles an hour and so be there already!”

  Molly laughed, “It’s tempting! I’ve still got loads of unpacking to do before Monday when I-”

  “-Start at Wakanda Incorporated, the fifth most successful multinational firm in the country,” Dina teasingly finished her sentence, “Gee, I would have never known if this wasn’t the ten hundredth time you’ve mentioned it. By the way, you’ve seen your new boss at all?”