Hate

by K. A Knight

  “No?” I rasp.

  “No, it’s lust, Dume. Good, old-fashioned lust. You want to fuck me. No magic here.” She winks.

  The dragon swoops right for us. A motherfucking dragon. With solid black scales, spikes running down its back, and bright purple irises. Rolling my eyes, I look at Nos. “We don’t have time for this shit, we need to find her.”

  Panic flutters through me, fuck, only I get to touch her—well, Nos and I. She’s ours, I might not have always liked it, but she had grown on me...more than that. She had grown to be my everything, an unexpected, perfect storm rocking my world and tearing it apart.

  And now she’s gone. They took her.

  When we had woken up from whatever spell the witches hit us with, she was gone, as were they. I took to the sky immediately, ignoring the aftereffects of the magic, and followed their trail, except it went cold. But I know who they are.

  At least one of them is on the council.

  Our own leaders took Dawn...why?

  I don’t have time for questions, I need to get her back. I know better than anyone what they are capable of and I refuse to let them hurt another woman I love. Refuse to watch another die while I’m unable to help.

  I use that weakness, I channel it with my panic and turn it into hate. Rage. I aim it at the dragon and take to the air to meet him. I hear Nos sigh, and then suddenly, the world freezes.

  My eyes widen as I’m stuck mid-air, locked in place. I see Nos stroll between us on the ground, his hands held out on either side and eyes bright white. Is this him? What else is the forest god capable of?

  He holds us in place effortlessly, anger on his face. “This is not helping,” he screams, and birds take flight and a howl of wolves goes up, the wildlife echoing his pain. He was with Dawn longer than I was and I could see their love, even though I hated it and was jealous. This must be killing him, not that I’ll ever admit that to him.

  He looks to the dragon with narrowed eyes. “I do not know who you are, but we mean you no harm. We are searching for our mate, she was taken from here and we are trying to find a trail. A lead. Anything to get her back.”

  The dragon blinks and then a voice blasts through our minds. Fuck, that’s why everyone hates dragons. They can get into your head and past your defenses without you even realising it.

  Mate? What’s her name?

  Nos tilts his head and I see a small smile there. “I have a feeling you already know, dragon.”

  HER NAME!

  “Dawn, her name is Dawn and she is ours. We are going to get her back.”

  The hold on us breaks and we both fall to the ground around the forest god’s feet as he stands there like he’s at worship. The dragon melts, shifting in a swirl of purple and black until a man stands in its place.

  Pastel purple hair, short and messy on the top, crowns his head. His eyes are black, the colour seeming to swirl. He’s tall, fucker is even taller than me and bigger. Like a tree trunk. He holds his head up, his chin tilted back like only those fucking rich pricks who sit on thrones can. Daring us to defy him as he takes us both in. In dragon form or not, he’s powerful, I can feel that. I hope he isn’t an enemy, but if he is, I will kill him. Whatever it takes to get our girl back and then I’ll never let her go again.

  Fighting or not, she is mine.

  “Dawn,” he rasps, voice hoarse. “She is mine.”

  Interesting. I knew my little monster would call more mates. She is too powerful not to, she needs them to help balance her, there can be no power without grounding. However, even I did not expect the power of the dragon she has called. To call him forth...the power she holds is incredible.

  But none of it matters if we don’t get her back. “Then we can’t fight between ourselves. She is gone, and the longer we take to find her the more damage they will do to her. We do not know what they want, but when I find them, I plan to find out.”

  “Then kill them,” the dragon snaps, eyes flaring purple for a moment.

  I incline my head and a smile breaks out across his face. “Can’t say I’m surprised she has more mates, but you were both not what I was expecting.”

  “Well, whoop-de-fucking-doo,” Griffin snarls and looks at me. “He can sleep on the sofa, I’m not sharing my room. Now stop making pleasantries and let’s get her back.”

  Used to the fallen’s grumpy nature by now, and knowing the only one who can make him smile and not kill everything is our mate, I look to them both deciding I need to take charge. Something I don’t enjoy. I like my solitude, my forest, and knowing if something happens to people it isn’t because of me, but for her I will. Someone needs to ensure they don’t kill each other and that individual looks to be me, especially if the daggers Griffin is glaring at the dragon are any indication. I even catch his eyes leaking black as he strokes his blades.

  I narrow my eyes at him and he rolls his, but he drops his hand as the dragon starts to stride away, into the forest. Sighing, I call out to him, “Wrong way. Why don’t you follow us?”

  He turns and with a lift of his chin, indicates for us to go first. I do, stepping through the forest like I have walked it a million times, which I have. The trees move out of my way and the plants welcome me, all making my journey easier, but I hear growling and swearing behind me and turn to see the dragon struggling over roots and branches, a disgusted sneer on his lips as he glances around before suddenly stopping, his head tilted to the side.

  Griffin snorts and storms past me, smashing through the trees without a care. “Do we need a fucking leash for the dragon?” he snaps.

  “Be nice,” I warn, and he snarls at me, spinning, his wings flaring out and smacking the trees on either side of us. In his eyes I see the madness from which he hides, one so deep and integral it is a part of him, but I do not fear it. Neither does Dawn, it simply makes Griffin who he is.

  “Nice? Fucking nice?” he shouts, stepping closer, mist coating him and wrapping around his form, darkening the forest. The animals go silent, sensing a predator.

  “Guys,” the dragon calls out, but we ignore him.

  “Yes, nice,” I grind out. “I don’t like it as much as you, but we are going to need all the help we can find to get Dawn back...that is what you want, correct?”

  At the mention of her name, he growls, grabbing my throat and slamming me back into the tree. With a flick of my power, I send him sailing through the air, where he smashes through branches and underbrush before he suddenly materialises in front of me again. His eyes are nothing but darkness now, all the blue is gone. I remember how my mate likes him like this, how she can handle it, tame him almost...I cannot. And I can’t kill him, which only leaves talking to him.

  “Other mates!” the dragon calls louder, but we don’t break our stare down, knowing if I do, he will strike. He wants an excuse to attack, he is looking for a weakness. He won’t get it from me.

  “We have no choice, Griffin. We work together, we will go back to your place and reach out to everyone to see if they know anything and then make a plan. We are getting our fucking mate back,” I snap, his attitude and anger rubbing off on me.

  Uncaring about the enraged and slightly mad fallen, the dragon steps between us. “There is a dead body over there, if you didn’t know.”

  It makes Griffin laugh suddenly, the sound slightly manic. “Hell yes we do, that’s what happens when you fuck with our mate.”

  It breaks the tension between us, and I relax as Griffin’s wings disappear and his eyes bleed back to normal. He claps me on the back as he passes me and follows the dragon, who yet again is going the wrong way. Aren’t dragons supposed to have a good sense of direction? “Let’s get her then.”

  Sighing, I send a thought out to my mate, hoping she can hear it.

  Little Monster, it will be a miracle if we don’t all kill ourselves before we find you, we need you...without you we are falling apart already...please, little one, come home.

  I stir, unable to help myself. Something pulls at me. I f
elt something similar before, but it was weaker, miles away. Almost a world away. I ignored it and went back to sleep, back to my magical slumber we all agreed to when we took our position, sleeping away the ages until we are called forth to serve…and rule.

  But this time, I can’t. I can’t ignore it, the pull. It’s filled with pain and rips through the magic and layers of sleep shrouding me like a blanket. Stabbing into my brain and echoing in the prison of my head. It’s female, her mind reaching for mine even across the many miles separating us. I see flashes of what is happening, stabs of electricity moving through her to me. Men in black, flickers of corridors, and then darkness...just the scream remaining.

  Screaming for me, even though she does not know me.

  I sit up with a roar, my body bolt upright in my tomb, my eyes sealed shut and body weak from years of resting. But not for long. It’s unnatural for me to be awake, it will cause ripples. Problems.

  None of it matters.

  Not the years of control I learned, not the power I gathered and wielded like a sword. Not my place.

  My name.

  My position.

  Only her.

  My head droops uselessly against my chest, my once long hair cut and matted and greasy, hanging in shorn lumps across my oily and dirty face.

  Pain is my constant, it is all I know.

  My mouth is so dry, I feel my lips crack and bleed.

  My body feels like a husk, all the water, all the liquid gone until I am nothing but a starving skeleton of what I once was.

  That is what they want.

  To deprive me of the very thing I need most and watch as I crumble into nothing but a monster for them to control. It’s the only way they can control me. Make me what they want me to be. I don’t know how long I have been here, but they should know one thing about me—I do nothing I do not want to.

  This world has seen my anger before, the tales and stories told even today. So many names and so many works of fiction are based on me...and these men think starving me will make me break? How wrong they are. I will prove that to them before I rip their bodies apart and spike their heads to decorate my house.

  I hear the door open once again, just as it does every day like clockwork. I no longer visibly react, not even to lift my weary head. Something is tossed inside, a someone, I should say. And then the door slams shut once again, trapping them in here with me.

  I can’t help it, I sniff, inhaling the aromatic fragrance of their essence. The very thing I need. Next, I hear their heart slamming so hard in their chest from fear I’m surprised they haven’t died from it.

  Human bodies are so frail, after all.

  They breathe slowly to remain quiet and they don’t move, thinking it will save them. But I can hear every tiny inhale, each exhale, and every slight movement of their body. The blood thundering through their veins, calling to me.

  Madness encroaches the recesses of my mind, a darkness I have given into more than once twisting around me until I finally lift my head and spot the tiny human. The living blood bag is kneeling against the door with her legs pulled to her fluttering chest. Her lips quiver and her eyes overflow as she stares at me.

  My nose twitches and my mouth parts to reveal my huge fangs, which is what finally breaks her.

  She screams, howls, and cries, battering her fists against the metal door to escape me and I laugh, throwing my head back and letting it flow from me.

  They won’t break me today, or even tomorrow.

  It was a good try though.

  I let them hear my mocking guffaw, even as my arms are pulled up and chained, my legs spread and shackled to the walls.

  Blood.

  It coats the air, calling to me, telling me its story. How it could make me feel better, make my strength return, quench this never-ending thirst which was imposed on me many millenniums ago.

  No one can.

  “How long have you been here?” I ask, changing the subject when Dume just stares at me. If a minotaur could look shocked, I think that would be his expression right now.

  With nothing else to do but sit and wait for that fucking Veyo to come back so I can kill them and escape, I make myself comfortable on the floor, sitting cross-legged and watching as the bull man walks around me, almost pacing.

  “A few days. Witches trapped me while I was travelling,” he almost roars, the floor actually shaking with the force and his hooves making a clanking noise as he moves.

  “Travelling to where?” I question pleasantly. Again, I should probably be more afraid trapped in here with a clearly angry minotaur, but instead I’m fighting off my attraction, the lust that’s drawing me to him. I’ve only felt like this with my mates, so why now? Is it magic like he said? It’s not like I know much about it, so it could be, or is it something else?

  He turns to face me and copies my position, sitting down surprisingly gracefully for such a big man. “To find someone,” is all he says. “Why are you here?”

  “That’s the question, isn’t it?” I muse. “I was hunting someone. I guess they didn’t like us prying, it led me to these people and what they’re doing here.”

  “Which is?” he presses.

  The door opens and we both shoot to our feet. The three guards wearing solid black stream inside, so I part my legs and brace myself. Their faces and the crackle of electricity from their weapons unleashes something in me.

  Something more than rage...hate.

  When the door shuts behind them and they grin at us, I turn my head slowly to look at Dume, flashing him an evil grin. “They are mine.”

  Even my voice doesn’t sound like me—it’s darker, filled with anger and need. Need for their blood and pain. I let it take hold and when one of them steps towards me, his baton aimed in my direction, I move with a scream that would rival the minotaur himself. I’m almost a blur, moving so fast that one second I’m in front of him and the next I’m behind him. I hear their panicked yells, but it all fades away until nothing but darkness surrounds me.

  Leaping onto his back, I yank his head to the side and rip out his throat. I feel the moment my teeth break through his flesh, the spurt of his blood hitting my tongue. Laughing, I jump down and watch as he swings around, arms flapping as he tries to stop the bleeding.

  I grin, feeling blood trickle from my lips and onto my chest, making it heave. Each drop is like a boost of energy shot straight into me. I turn my undoubtedly black eyes to the other men who are staring at me in fear.

  “What the fuck?” one of them screams.

  “What is she?” the other yells back.

  “Your death.” I laugh and then throw myself at them. One of the guards manages to dodge my attack, so I tumble to the ground with the other beneath me. A natural instinct takes hold like before, not to feed this time, but to kill. Curling my hands like claws, I stab his chest over and over again. My now sharp nails slice like knives as they cut through skin and bone. Blood sprays everywhere as I continue to stab and slash, even when he’s unmoving.

  Stilling, I lift my head, noting the room smells like blood and fear, and it sends a shiver through me. I need more.

  “Draya,” comes a warning.

  I spin and watch the last man race towards me. My eyes catch on Dume’s chain and I grab it, jumping to meet the guard and wrap it around his neck. His weapon drops to the floor with an audible thud as he starts to choke, his hands grabbing at the metal, trying to pull it away. His eyes bulge, his veins prominent now and his face starts to turn red. His mouth opens in a silent scream and suddenly, I need to feed with such ferocity that a snarl escapes me before I seal my lips to his.

  I let his now skeletal corpse drop to the floor, then I meet Dume’s eyes in the dark which are red and locked on mine. Raising my black nails to my mouth, I lick the blood trickling down my hands, staining them. “Tastes like fear,” I purr.

  Nos and I experimented with blood. I learned that night I could feed from it. His was so powerful it bowed my spine, but this is lesser and
tastes like a cheap imitation. I growl in frustration, needing more, needing power. My body aches, every cell screaming for it.

  I set my eyes on the minotaur and he huffs out smoke as I prowl closer. “I’m hungry, bull,” I tell him, and this time he doesn’t back away. “I need to feed, that wasn’t enough. They weakened me, I need it.” I stop before him. “Dume,” I purr, “I need you.”

  Before he can protest, though I don’t think he would from his sharp inhale, I strike.

  I throw myself towards him with that same blurring speed, but my monster must be able to see me because he catches me. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I inch up his body until I can bind my arms around his neck and stare into those red eyes.

  “Draya,” he rumbles, but I don’t think he means to warn me away.

  “I need to feed, Dume. I need your blood, I need your power. I ache for it,” I whisper, as I lick his nose ring again.

  Something in the minotaur snaps, I can feel it, how close to the surface his true animal side is. Compared with Nos and Griffin, who can almost act human, this monster seems to be struggling to even string sentences together. He’s primal, raw, and has my pussy wet.

  He turns and slams me into the cell wall, his strength showing as he holds me there with one hand. “Mate,” he snarls, without a single sign of his human side. No, this isn’t Dume. This is the minotaur.

  Mate?

  Could it be?

  My need clouds my mind again, pushing away rational thought, and I let out a whimper, my neck arching to try and reach him. “Need?” he growls.

  I nod.

  “Mate need?” he repeats, smashing me back into the wall, the force of it making me gasp even as I bow up into his touch, wanting more.

  “Yesss, my bull, mate needs,” I purr, rubbing my body against his, the fur surprisingly soft, like a feather caressing my skin. It only heightens my desire and I cry out, arching for him again like a cat.

  Smoke curls from his nose as his red eyes watch me, then he tilts his head, and with one big paw drags my head to his exposed neck. “Feed.”