However, he doesn’t smell bad at all—his scent reminds me of bonfire night, when we build a huge fire in the courtyard to celebrate the coming of the New Year. It’s a hot, spicy scent and below it I smell a kind of deep, masculine musk that draws me to him rather than repelling me.
Don’t be foolish, Irena! I tell myself sternly. This beast is your prisoner—even though you are freeing him, he is yours to command for as long as you wear the ring and he wears the collar. Don’t forget that you must stay in control of him if you wish to save Mother’s life!
When I finish unlocking the second ankle manacle, I stand up and take a step back…
And that’s when his hand shoots out and grabs me by the throat.
5
VALEN
I wait until the manacles are gone and I’m completely free. Then I take her by the throat and drag her towards me.
She gasps, her pretty, silver-green eyes going wide as she pries at my fingers with her own. I squeeze a little—not enough to cut off her air completely—just enough to frighten her.
“Listen to me, Princess,” I growl, glaring at her. “I’ll take you where you want to go and keep my part of the bargain, but this is a partnership—not an ownership. I’m not your plaything or your toy to order around whenever you fucking please!”
I squeeze a little harder—again, being careful of my pressure. I know the rules of the ring and collar—all my people do for they are the stuff of our nightmares. If the wearer of the collar kills the wearer of the ring he risks following her into death. Or—even worse—I might be forced permanently into my Drake form and never be able to recover my human half.
I don’t want that—I like being dual natured. Flying as my Drake is wonderful and right now I crave it because I’ve been chained for so long. But getting enough food to feed my other half is difficult. Also, if I remained in my Drake’s form too long, I’d slowly start to lose the human half of my mind. I would become a dumb beast—which is what the Magic people claim we are anyway.
I don’t want that either.
So after a long moment, I ease my grip and lean down, pushing my face into hers.
“Do you understand me, Princess?” I growl softly, breathing in her sweet, feminine scent.
Her full breasts are heaving and the sight makes my cock stir between my legs. I’d probably be fucking hard as a stone if I wasn’t so low on blood. It’s been so long since I’ve drunk from a woman. My thirst roars and my fangs ache but I can’t bite her here—we need to get free of the fucking castle first.
She opens her lips and I’m sure she’s going to agree, but when she speaks, her words are choked but defiant.
“Be ye still!” As she speaks, I feel the collar tighten around my throat and the ring on her finger glows so brightly it’s almost blinding.
And then, suddenly, I’m frozen.
I mean it—I can’t fucking move. My whole body feels like it’s been encased in a thick layer of ice I can’t break through, no matter how hard I try.
I fight the sensation. I have to move—I’m not letting her go until I’m Goddess-damned good and ready!
However, the power of the collar is working on me. And it’s helped along by the power of the Princess herself—she has much stronger magic than her brother. I can feel her words echoing in my head, keeping me still, encased in that invisible ice.
She definitely has the upper hand here. Fuck, what’s going to happen now?
I have no fucking idea, but I’m pretty sure I won’t like it one fucking bit.
6
IRENA
I pull away from his grip, rubbing my neck convulsively. My head feels like someone has driven an iron spike through my right eye and it’s still there. The pain is debilitating and it’s all I can do not to stumble and fall on the dirty dungeon floor.
By some miracle I stay upright, but as long as I hold the beast in this kind of magical stasis the collar seems to have put him in, the pain doesn’t ease.
I’m not even quite sure how this happened—I think it was because I panicked when he grabbed me by the throat. Which, by the way, I didn’t expect. I naively thought that because he can’t kill me, he also can’t lay hands on me.
Obviously, I was wrong about that.
The words that rose to my lips were from the list of “forbidden spells of power” that were on the scrap of manuscript beneath my brother’s mattress.
