That was one of the things I hated most about vampires. They thought they were so much better than all other supernaturals, just because they were immortal.
“Sage is still alive,” he said instead. “I feel her.” He brought his hand to his chest, and I knew what he meant. He felt the warmth from the imprint bond beating in time with his heart. I felt it too, with Raven.
I was the only person alive who loved Raven and was strong enough to have a chance to save her. Her safety was dependent on me. But that wasn’t the case with Sage.
Sage had her brother—and her pack.
“We should go to Flint,” I said.
“Flint asked me to kill you.” Thomas looked at me like I’d gone crazy. “He asked me to kill Raven too. Unless you’ve already forgotten that fact?”
“I haven’t forgotten,” I said with enough warning in my tone that Thomas leaned back slightly. “But Flint’s the only person who wants Sage back as much as we do. He’s desperate to get her back. And as much as I hate it, the Montgomery pack has power. They can help us.”
“Maybe.” Thomas rubbed his fingers over the table, thinking. “But we can’t march in there, tell Flint we lost his sister, and expect him to be calm and rational about it.”
“Most definitely not.” I chuckled, since calm and rational were far from the first words that popped into my mind to describe Flint Montgomery. “We also can’t forget that Flint’s in the process of making a shady alliance. Which is why we shouldn’t go straight to the Montgomery complex. We need to go somewhere else. To someone we know we can trust.”
“I take it you have an idea who that person is?” Thomas asked.
“Amber Devereux.” I didn’t miss a beat. “Her sister used her Final Spell to make the Devereux mansion impenetrable. The safest place we can go in LA is there.”
Mara
I watched Sage stand on her toes, look up into my father Azazel’s eyes, and press her lips to his.
This was part of the way Flint and I had been able to convince my father to approve our eventual mating. We’d proposed it was possible that more shifters would imprint on demons, thus joining our side.
But now, watching my father kiss Sage, something didn’t feel right.
When Flint and I had first kissed, we’d both felt drawn to each other. His energy pulled me toward him, just like he’d later told me he felt pulled to me.
Our species hated each other, but kissing Flint had felt as natural as breathing.
Sage’s red eyes had been blank as she’d walked toward my father. She’d kissed him because she’d been ordered to—not because she’d wanted to. That was how the blood binding spell she and the other Montgomery pack members had participated in worked.
Once blood bound to a demon, the demon’s will became your own.
Sage ended the kiss and stepped back, her eyes still empty.
I already knew what my father didn’t.
“Did it work?” he asked her.
“No.” Sage lowered her eyes. Her lower lip trembled—she was scared. “I’m sorry, Your Grace.”
He studied her for a few seconds, his expression empty.
I held my breath, unsure what he would do. My father was normally level headed and focused. But that had changed when we’d arrived to Earth. He was feeling pressed for time, and it was making him sloppy.
“Apology accepted,” he said. “You did exactly as I asked of you. It was the most you could do.”
Sage beamed up at him, clearly thrilled to have not disappointed him. “We could try again, if it pleases you.” She sounded as eager as ever.
Something about her tone sickened me.
“If you were going to imprint, it would have happened already,” I chimed in before he had a chance to reply.
My father glared at me, and I pressed my lips together, instantly regretting the transgression. “You’ll speak only when spoken to,” he said, his eyes traveling around the circle to all the members of the Montgomery pack. “That goes for all of you.”
I reached for Flint’s hand for support.
He didn’t resist my hold. But he didn’t give me the reassuring squeeze I’d grown accustomed to, either.
One glance over at him showed his eyes looked as empty as the rest of theirs.
I tried to repress the unease that crawled up my spine. But it didn’t go away. It just grew stronger.
“Return to where you were standing,” my father commanded Sage.
She scurried back to her spot on the other side of Flint.
He nodded once she was back in place. “It was an interesting test, but it’s for the best that I didn’t imprint on a shifter,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to do anything that might make me weak.” He looked to me when he said the final part, accusation in his eyes.
I bristled, offended by what he was insinuating. Imprinting with Flint hadn’t made me weak. It made me stronger.
Now that I had Flint, I had something to fight for. That was something that had been missing throughout all my centuries of life.
How had I lived for so long without ever knowing love?
But after my father’s outburst, I didn’t reply. I was his favorite daughter, so I didn’t think he’d do anything too terrible to me for speaking out of turn the first time.
I couldn’t count on the same for two offenses so close together.
Despite being my father, he was still a greater demon. He wasn’t known for his kind punishments. And I’d worked hard to get where I was. I wasn’t going to ruin that now.
My father continued to look around at the vacant red eyes of the Montgomery pack members, his lips slowly turning up into a smile. “Now that we’re bonded, my will is your will,” he said. “My wants are your wants. You’ll have my protection until the end of time. Lavinia will lower the boundary spell now, since I know there’s no longer a risk of any of you fleeing.”
There were nods of approval throughout the crowd, although no one voiced their support out loud. They were simply silent, waiting for him to continue.
“Soon, we’ll recruit more shifters to join our numbers,” he said. “You see, shifters are special to me. Not just to me, but to all of demon-kind. The first shifters were created with demon blood, just as the first Nephilim were created with angel blood. Only shifters can complete the blood binding ritual, since your blood is already connected to demon blood. But over time, the knowledge of the origin of your species has become lost. That happens over the course of a few millennia.” He chuckled, as if the thousands of years we spent in Hell was no big deal. “Eventually, we’ll try to convince all the shifter packs to join our cause and accept my protection. But first, there’s a greater plan at play. You see, I’m in the process of acquiring something extremely important for us. Something that once we have, will make us indestructible.”
I scowled. This wasn’t the first time he’d mentioned this “greater plan.” He’d created this plan with my Aunt Lilith and the Foster witch circle—Lavinia’s circle.
They refused to let me in on it. They refused to let anyone in on it. I trusted my father was telling the truth that once this plan was complete, our kind would be able to defeat the creatures that lived on the Earth and have the planet for ourselves. We deserved it after surviving all those millennia trapped in Hell.
But I hated not knowing what this plan was.
“The plan is nearing completion,” my father continued. “Until then, I need you to lay low. That means staying here, inside your complex, unless I require you to perform a task for me. After all, we can’t have you wandering the city and having other supernaturals questioning the change of your eye colors, can we?” He looked to Flint at that last part, clearly expecting an answer.
“No, Your Grace.” Flint sounded like a robot—not like the man I’d fallen in love with. “I assure you that as the alpha of the Montgomery pack, we’ll stay in the complex until receiving further orders from you.”
It hurt to see and hear Flint like this. He sounded like a shell of
who he usually was.
But our imprint bond was still there. I could feel it.
I needed to trust our bond. The imprint bond between us was stronger than the blood bond between him and my father.
Wasn’t it?
“Wonderful.” My father smiled. “With that settled, it’s time to move onto other matters. I know milestone celebrations are important in both in Hell and on Earth. So, tell me. What does your kind do to celebrate mating?”
My heart beat faster. Could this mean what I thought it did?
I glanced over at Flint to see his reaction. But if he was equally as excited, I couldn’t tell.
He was focused purely on my father. It was like I didn’t exist beside him at all.
“Once each alpha has approved the pairing, we perform a ceremony similar to a human wedding,” Flint replied, his eyes only on my father’s as he spoke. “The ceremony is held on the grounds of whichever mate is the dominant of the pairing, as that is the pack that the couple joins. That alpha acts as the officiate.”
“And what happens if the alpha is the one joining with a mate?” my father asked.
“Then the alpha chooses who he or she would like to officiate.” Despite all the clues that my father was referring to the two of us, Flint still seemed unmoved as he spoke.
Did he even want to mate with me anymore?
I felt no affection from him through the imprint bond. The imprint bond was still there, but it was weaker. Muted.
Each unemotional word he spoke was like a blow to my heart. I’d never been the most emotional person to begin with—it was natural for demons to suppress emotions, and my father raised me to believe emotions were a weakness—but this hurt. The pain was so physical that it hurt to breathe.
“Then you’ll need to choose someone to officiate the ceremony between you and Mara.” My father smiled first at Flint and then at me, his intentions clear.
Despite the uncontrollable emotions raging through my body, I forced myself to smile back. After how hard I’d fought for my father to allow Flint and I to mate, I couldn’t seem ungrateful now.
I wasn’t ungrateful. I was getting what I wanted.
So why did it feel so wrong?
“And hopefully the ceremony won’t take long to plan.” If my father noticed anything amiss with how I was acting, he didn’t acknowledge it as he continued, “Because I intend for the two of you to be mated by the end of the week.”
Raven
The heavy metal door of the bunker slammed shut in my face.
I turned to the others in the room with me. There were about fifteen men and women of various ages, all wearing matching blue jumpsuits. The only thing different about each jumpsuit was the number on the front left of the chest.
The room had rows of bunk beds, like a hostel. It reminded me of one of the hostels I’d stayed in while backpacking around Europe.
Well, when I thought I’d been backpacking around Europe. That trip hadn’t really happened. A witch had used memory potion to implant the memories of the Europe trip into my mind to replace something else that had happened to me. Something I suspected was terrible, although I still didn’t know what it was.
One of the women in the group stepped forward. She was about my height, with light orange hair tied up in a milkmaid braid. She looked to be in her late thirties or early forties. Her jumpsuit had the number seven stitched onto it.
She gave me a small smile, and I relaxed slightly. Whoever these people were, it appeared they were on my side.
“I’m Suzanne.” Her voice was as warm as her smile. “What’s your name?”
I looked around again at them all suspiciously. I wanted to trust them.
But I’d been through hell and back since the night I’d been attacked and nearly abducted by a demon. And I’d just been dropped into this place by Azazel himself.
I didn’t know if these people he’d locked me up with were humans. They could be anything—vampires, shifters, witches, demons… although I didn’t think they were demons. I couldn’t see through demon glamour, but I could see flashes of their eyes and teeth if I knew or suspected what they were. That hadn’t happened since I’d been in here.
The only thing keeping me grounded right now was the imprint bond pulsing warmly in my heart. My connection to Noah was still there and as strong as ever.
Our imprint bond would only go away if he died or if he mated with someone else. So at least I knew he was still alive.
If I didn’t know that, I surely would have lost it by now.
The lady—Suzanne—slowly walked up to me and took my hands in hers.
The moment her skin touched mine, calmness rushed through me. I wouldn’t say I felt suddenly safe, but I didn’t feel as threatened as I had seconds earlier.
I usually wasn’t one to be okay with strangers touching me. But there was something different about her. Something motherly.
“You’re afraid,” she said steadily, her light brown eyes focused on mine. “We all were, when we were first brought here. But we’re all on the same side. We’re just like you. I promise.”
“You’re all… gifted?” I repeated what Azazel had said back when he’d first teleported Sage and me here.
He’d said that as a demon, he could see the auras of humans. That gifted humans had stronger auras.
Apparently I was one of those special humans.
It certainly explained why the demons kept spotting me at every bar we visited to hunt them down.
But I didn’t have a special gift. If I did, surely I’d know what it was by this point in my life.
“We are.” She nodded.
“What’s your gift?” I asked.
“Compassion,” she answered simply. “And comfort.”
I supposed that explained the motherly feeling I was experiencing from her touch. The feeling that was putting me slightly at ease and making me comfortable with the thought of opening up to her.
“My name’s Raven,” I finally answered her original question. “And I don’t have a gift.”
“I’m sure that’s not true,” she said.
Before I could tell her that it was true, the door opened again. The demon that had held me down before—Marco—stepped inside. He was tall and strong, like a bodyguard. And he was carrying a blue jumpsuit.
Suzanne dropped her hands from mine the moment he entered and stepped back to stand with the others. She nodded, as if to tell me everything was going to be okay.
But everything was far from okay.
“Put this on.” Marco held the jumpsuit out to me. It had the number thirty-three on the front. “I’ll take what you’re wearing now. You won’t need it anymore.”
He blocked the only door that led in or out. I wasn’t stupid enough to think I could get past him. Despite the self-defense techniques Noah and Sage had been teaching me the past few days, supernatural strength always beat human strength. It was a law of nature.
I didn’t stand a chance against him.
So I took the jumpsuit and looked around the bunker. “Where do I go to change?” I asked.
He stared at me blankly. “You don’t go anywhere,” he said.
Realization set in. He wanted me to change right here, in front of everyone.
The others in the bunker turned to give me privacy. Since they all wore matching jumpsuits, I imagined they’d all been through the same humiliation themselves. About half of them walked back to the beds I assumed were theirs, keeping their backs to me. Only one person who remained standing peeked behind him—a guy who looked like he was at least thirty years older than me. Gross.
I stared down at the jumpsuit and took a deep breath.
“Hurry up.” Marco clearly wasn’t going anywhere until I did as instructed. “We don’t have all day.”
Best to just get this over with. Bras and panties weren’t that much different than a bathing suit… right?
With that thought, I placed the jumpsuit by my feet and pulled off the shirt I was
wearing—one of Sage’s that she’d loaned me. It was black with gold sparkles, and the sparkles scratched my skin as I pulled it over my head and through my arms. Once off, I threw it to the floor. Then, without looking at anyone, I unbuttoned my jeans, getting out of them as quickly as possible.
The air conditioning blasted overhead, and goosebumps rose over my arms as I stood there in just my bra and underwear. Despite my earlier thought that it was no different than a bathing suit, it didn’t matter. This was humiliating and degrading. Nothing I could say to myself could convince me otherwise.
I reached down for the jumpsuit, but Marco interrupted me.
“Remove your undergarments as well,” he said.
I stared up at him in shock. The last shred of dignity I had left, and he was going for that, too.
“Turn around.” I stared him straight in the eyes, as if daring him to say no.
“Demons care nothing for human flesh,” he said simply. “Your kind doesn’t incite desire in ours.”
“I don’t care.” I clenched my jaw, wishing I were strong enough to punch the smug look off his face. “I’m not changing in front of you. Turn around. Now.”
He kept his eyes locked on mine. He was trying to intimidate me. But I wouldn’t let him do that. So I did what I’d witnessed the Montgomery wolves doing when I’d been in their complex—I held his stare.
My dignity was all I had left. I wouldn’t let him take it from me too.
Turn around, I thought, continuing to hold his gaze. I breathed steadily, listening to each breath as it went in and out. I refused to budge. I might not be able to physically fight this demon, but I could handle a battle of wills.
Noah had always told me I was the most stubborn person he knew.
After what felt like an entire minute of silent staring had passed, Marco scowled and turned to face the door.
I said nothing, instead stripping out of my bra and underpants as quickly as possible and hurrying to put on the jumpsuit. There was underwear built in, and it had a zipper in front. I did the zipper up.
Marco turned back around once the zipper clicked in place. The others all turned around as well.
The Angel Gift (Dark World: The Angel Trials Book 4) Page 2