“Bravo, truly,” the man said in a dramatic tone, finally halting his claps. “What a beautiful display of love and gratitude. Now, tell me, where are we going, friends?”
I took him in fully and my jaw dropped, not believing my eyes. Was that a prison jumpsuit?
“Uhm, Ronan,” I murmured, unsure of who the hell this was or the reason he was imprisoned to begin with. “Do you know him and the level of threat we’re facing?”
“Kieran,” he breathed out, “That black and white hair, crazy-ass smile? I've seen stuff about him around specialists' offices. I'm pretty sure his name is Bastian, and he's responsible for almost destroying the mountain that divides our two forests. Single-handedly. We need to get out of here now."
My eyes flew open. Who the hell had that kind of power?
BASTIAN
WHAT A BEAUTY SHE IS.
Tanned skin and golden waves of hair fell over the swell of her breasts, all the way down to her waist. I could already picture the silky texture on my skin as I wrapped my hand around the strands.
Those eyes…Fuck, those warm, honey and green-flecked eyes did me in as she stared me down. If looks could kill, the glare she leveled at me would have absolutely sliced my throat open. That death would leave a stunning pool of crimson around me to soak in as I drifted from this life to an afterlife in Hell. A wistful sigh escaped me as I imagined the warmth of my own blood wrapping around me like an embrace from death herself.What a way to go.
The danger I sensed in the woman in front of me made my cock harden uncomfortably. I’d never sensed an energy like hers before. One corner of my mouth tugged up at the startling realization. Maybe I’d met my match. The person who could bring me to my knees. I couldn’t be so lucky to escape that prison and find her all within one night, could I? The devil was truly looking out for me after all the nights I spent in my cell praying.
Her lips began to move as she gestured to the man at her side, who looked trepidatious since the moment I spoke,announcing my presence to them. My mind drifted to imagining how she would look basking in the blood with me. Her golden tendrils would slowly saturate with the red, and if I was lucky, her lips would be stained with it as her tongue darted…
“What do you want from us?”
Her furious demand snapped me out of my daydreams. My bottom lip stuck out in a pout as I regarded her, “Honey Buns, I was having such beautiful thoughts of you. Can I have a moment to drift back to that before we depart?”
A growl came from the man, who attempted to shield and shadow her protectively with his size. As I watched his hands clench at his sides, I quickly dismissed him. He wasn’t a threat to me. Just a gnat to swat if he got in the way. The hissing wyvern on his shoulder could be a problem, though, depending on his age and size when shifted. My eyes slowly closed. Just a few more seconds…The world around me began to fade as I slowly sank back into my alternate reality. I watched my fingers dip into my blood before lifting them to her lips, rubbing it across those pretty pink…
“No! No, you cannot have a moment to do whatever the hell it is that your creepy mind is doing right now.”
My head jerked back at her response as shock widened my eyes and lips. “Well, that’s quite rude, don’t you think, Honey Buns?”
I didn’t think I was asking too much of her.
Her foot stomped. How adorable. My teeth dragged my bottom lip between them as I bit down softly while she demanded, “Stop calling me that!”
Feisty little thing. Okay, so she didn’t like that pet name. Not to worry—there were plenty more.
“Sugar Butt?” I questioned, arching my eyebrow as I waited for her response.
“No!”
My hand lifted to scratch my chin as I scrambled to find another option. I snapped my fingers as a new one came to mind. “This is the one, I can feel it! What about Buttercup?”
A smile spread my lips apart as she hesitated to speak. I knew it. I knew that was the one. She was rolling it through her mind, to get the feel for it. Now shehadto let me daydream in exchange.
Her voice was venomous as her eyes narrowed and she pulled her shoulders back. “Did you lose a few screws in your head during your imprisonment? I don’t want pet names from a stranger.”
Wetting my lips with my tongue as a coldness settled over me, I weighed her words. They hit a little too close to home without her even realizing it. I’d let it slide this once because of her naivety. The trance she’d unknowingly placed on me was broken, with the memories of blinding lights above my face as doctors gathered in every corner of my vision filling my head. The sound of metal tools ringing out as the steady beat of my heart on their monitor accompanied the sounds flowing through the air as they operated—no, experimented. I didn’t need any procedures, but they wanted the answers my brain held, so they attempted to take them without asking.
A shock of adrenaline ran through me as my body shook with the memory. Too bad for them, they never got the answers. My magic had a mind of its own and protected itself. A laugh bubbled up within me, before echoing through the room, as I recalled the sweet sound of their bodies dropping to the ground.
“Uhm, Ronan,” she whispered, “did his eyes and hair just change colors, or am I losing it?”
My laughter died down to a deep chuckle at her question. It was easy to forget that I was the only known Caster to date that didn’t need a spell or incantation to use my magic. Even easier to forget that my power often acted out on its own, flutteringthrough my body in odd ways with my moods. It wasn’t like they’d given me a mirror in my tiny cell.
“On the count of three, you need to grab your bag and my hand before we jump through the portal behind us, Kieran.”
It was my turn to narrow my gaze as the man she called Ronan provided me with two important pieces of information: Her name and their unwillingness to entertain the possibility of bringing me with them.
