My arms strained to push him harder, but he growled, holding my hair tighter as he kept smelling my neck.
“They said you were the Shard Carrier now,” he asked bitterly. “Why don’t I smell it on you? Why wasn’t I invited to the ceremony? Where the fuck is Anastasia?”
My eyes rolled in the back of my head as he bit down on the sensitive skin right between my neck and shoulder. A moan slipped free as I tried to pull away from him, shifting to the side to put more distance between our flushed bodies.
The last thing I needed right now was for him to notice how hard I was just from his touch.
“Amyntas.” What I hoped would come out firm but sounded more like a plea made him hiss in the crook of my neck as he bit harder. “Fuck, stop. I can’t—my father’s dead, what do you mean?”
It all happened fast from there. Him retreating, his hand back around my throat, his lips pulled back over his teeth in a sneer.
“What the fuck are you talking about? I saw him three days ago, with no recollection of his own daughter and saying that you were now the Shard Carrier and gone to create your own clan somewhere else.”
Not a single one of his words made sense. My father wasdead. Killed by Anastasia, andshehad the soul shard now, since I gave it to her after ripping it out from our father’s ashes. But was I about to tell this to Amyntas? Certainly not. It would only make him more inclined to go after her.
Steeling myself from the violence inevitably coming my way, I squared my shoulder, ignoring the pain of his tight grip.
“Anastasia’s gone. Leave her be and find yourself another Maiden to breed as I won’t let you disrespect my sister the way your mother has been disrespected and used for years.”
To my surprise, his sneer turned into a mocking grin. “What, the way I’ve been disrespectingyou? You didn’t seem to mind…Were you so jealous of the thought I’d fuck your sister at night instead of you that you made her disappear? YouknowI wouldn’t have treated her the way my mother had. YouknowI’m better than this. She would have lived a happy life—she would have been free to do whatever she pleased as soon as I got my heir.”
I tried to turn my head to the side but his hand lifted to my jaw to keep my eyes locked on him.
“Where. Is. My. Maiden?”
“She’s gone,firben,” I spat, the demeaning word falling free from my lips making him hiss in my face. “She found her mate, it wouldn’t have been fair to her. As it wouldn’t have been fair to me to seeyouwith her.”
There was a long pause where he just got closer, rubbing his front against mine, and I held another moan when his hard length pressed against my equally hard cock through our clothes.
“You think you’re safe from my wrath because you’re my mate?” He spat the word like it didn’t mean anything. Like our soul being fated to be together was nothing but a joke, and my heart broke at his tone. “That I’ll somehow forgive you from robbing me of the heir I was supposed to have? Because I won’t. I’ll hunt her down and take what I’m owed. I’ll rip her precious little mate to shreds because you and she dared to go against me, and I’ll make you both watch as I’ll feed on his fucking heart and use his bones to build the useless throne she’ll be forced to sit in. Maybe I’ll even keep you as a side piece afterward and force you to watch as I let my Dragon soldiers use her like my father did to my mother before.”
“You said you weren’t—”
“I changed myfuckingmind,” he yelled. “You made me mad, Aghen. I don’t care that you’re my mate, mycore, I’ll make you pay for this. As soon as I get her back, I’ll come for you too.”
Chapter 1
Lola
Iwas seconds from turning insane. Arc and Dimitri had been gone fordaysand Carter hadn’t spoken to me ever since we made it out of Carrie’s office.
How could he be so mad about a drawn mustache when there were clearly more urgent things to deal with was beyond me.
But that little trip to the commander’s office ended up being pointless anyway.
“Calm down,” Carrie had said, closing the door behind us. “Carter, breathe, I can barely keep my eyes open, you’re—”
“I fucking CAN’T, Carrie. They’re out there, and something feels off, there was this guy and—”
“Carter…”
“—and he knew Arc’s name,” he interrupted her, voice rising. “The name only a handful of people ever heard.”
My eyes were still shut closed, Carter’s arm keeping me up by the waist. It felt strange being this close to him for so long. My spiraling mind was somehow comforted by his presence.
“Well, do you know every person he ever gave that name to?” Carrie had asked. “You’re the only one who’s ever been in his mind. The only one who knows his name here.”
What the Hell was Arc’s real name?
