AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What?” he growls and nips at my throat. “I will mark you here, beloved, so no male will ever question my claim.”
“Hey.” I wriggle but don’t get far. “What are you—”
“My mate.” He slides his hand up my thigh. “You are my beloved.”
“I’m your mate?” I grab a handful of his dark hair and pull his face to mine. “Did you hit your head or something?”
“Can’t you feel it?” He presses a hand over my heart.
“I feel something, all right.” I move my hips, and he groans.
“The bond,” he purrs.
“I feel…” I don’t know. I’ve always lusted after him. Surely, he knows that. But his mate?
“Don’t doubt it.” He moves his hand to my breast and rakes his thumb over the hard nipple.
I say the only truth I know when it comes to him. “I want you.”
His growl is its own aphrodisiac as he reaches between us to unfasten his pants. “You belong to me.”
The door bursts open.
Gareth releases me and whirls.
“Odd.” Granthos points a sword at Gareth’s heart. “I was under the impression she belonged to me.”
“See, Master?” Wreth’s tail flicks into view behind Granthos.
“I should’ve killed you.” Gareth reaches back to keep me between him and the wall.
“Should have. But didn’t.” Wreth laughs.
Granthos smiles. “So wonderful to have a guest from the winter realm in Byrn Varyndr. I’m sure you were granted leave to be here by Queen Aurentia?”
Gareth is still, his body tense. I clutch the back of his shirt and try to think of a way out of this for both of us.
“No?” Granthos tsks. “Shame. Then again, if she doesn’t know you’re here, then perhaps I can dispose of you without violating the truce. That way, we all win.” His cruel smile is all-too familiar. “Well, all except for you.”
“He was just leaving.” I try to push past Gareth, but that’s impossible when he’s using his giant mitt to keep me in place. “He’s just a fisherman who came for a turn of fun in the slave quarters.”
“Is that so?” Granthos’s cold tone sends shivers down my spine. “Funny thing, pet. He referred to you as Beth when he entered the kitchen. I’m quite certain that name—as odious as it is—was only uttered by the winter fae who kidnapped you.”
“Kidnapped?” Gareth’s low growl is almost lethal. “I freed her.”
“I’m happy to see that worked out well for both of you.” Granthos laughs again, the sound hollow and ugly.
“Just let him go.” I swallow the bile that rises in my throat and continue, “Master, please.” I’m stuck, but maybe Gareth can escape. I can’t have Clotty’s death and his death on my hands.
“You have no master.” Gareth squeezes my hip. “And even if you did, this perfumed twit wouldn’t be it.”
“Strong words for a prisoner.” Granthos snaps his fingers. “Wreth, get in here.”
He advances. “Relieve our unseelie visitor of his weapons.”
The vicious cat prances in, her whiskers at attention. “You smell delicious, fishmonger. I’ll enjoy flaying you.” She disarms him while Granthos keeps his blade pointed at Gareth’s heart.
“Yes, I do believe I’ll give you to Wreth, nasty brute. When she’s done, I’ll sew you into one of my chimeras—well, at least parts of you, anyway.” Granthos moves aside, his gaze fixing on me. “And you, Lenetia. What shall I do with you?” He taps his long, thin finger on his chin. “I believe you need a lesson in subservience. One that I thought I taught you well long ago, but I see I was wrong. I see you hunger for discipline.” His gaze strays down my body, his intent all too clear. “I’m keen to re-teach you, to show you what it means to be mastered by a high fae.”
My insides go watery, and I cringe back against the wall. “I’ll kill you.”
“You’ll try. I’ve never been able to break your spirit, but this time.” He grins. “I think I can manage it.”
“You’ve raped her?” Gareth’s voice is so still and clear, like a glass needle hovering in the air.
“I’ve taught her, yes.” Granthos licks his lips. “And I’ll do it again and again until she learns her lesson.”
The air reacts first, changing from something invisible and unnoticed into a deafening maelstrom that can be neither breathed nor withstood. Wreth backs away, but Gareth’s power throws her through my wall, then the next, and the next until she’s nothing but a howling lump of pain several rooms away.
Then he turns to Granthos, who stands frozen, but not from fear. From a force that emanates from Gareth like cold wafting off a spike of pure ice. Granthos’s silver eyes remain focused on Gareth as they begin to crack, like a weathered glaze on an old piece of pottery. His skin follows, jagged lines etching along his flesh until he’s nothing more than millions of tiny shards, all barely held together. With a single breath from Gareth’s lips, Granthos falls into a heap of slivers, his body disintegrating, all of him torn apart at his most basic level. I’ve never seen such destructive magic, never even knew it existed.
And after that? The entire room shakes, the floor giving way and everything that seemed solid at first changing to nothing but splinters.
Gareth wraps me in his arms before the world becomes noise, rage, and destruction.
12
Gareth
My magic ravages the room, the walls crumbling as the ceiling gives way, crushing what’s left of Granthos beneath it. I can’t control the power, no more than I can control the feral that demands retribution for the crimes committed against my mate. I hold her close, cocooning her as best I can as the magic shreds our surroundings, the power I wield never truly within my grasp.
My destruction grows, the mansion above us groaning and failing as the foundation breaks down to its elemental bits and turns to dust. I will make this house a crater, a hole in Arin where nothing can grow, nothing can be built, and nothing can survive. I owe it to my mate. She needed protection, and I wasn’t here to give it. Rage fuels the magic, the riot of annihilation creating a cacophony around us.
“Gareth.”
I look down at Beth, my beloved.
“Gareth.” She puts her palm to my cheek. “You have to stop.”
“Granthos will pay.”
“Please.” Her eyes water. “There are other slaves, changelings and lesser fae who live in this wretched house. They will die if you don’t stop.”
“I can’t let this evil continue.”
“You’ll kill them,” she cries. “They’re innocent. All of them are victims just like me. Please.”
She’s right. At least, the thinking part of me believes she is. I still want to tear this place apart, but if I hurt the ones she cares about, that’s the same as hurting her. And I will never harm my mate. The only problem is that controlling my magic has never been my strong suit. Even so, I try to pull it back, to yank the tiger’s leash until the beast returns to its cave. It roars and fights, defying me as I focus all my energy on dimming its power and bringing it to heel.
