Page 2

I rubbed at my temples trying to alleviate the ache that was building behind my eyes. It was brutal today. Something I hadn't experienced to this degree in years. The pain pulsed with every heartbeat, making my vision blur at the edges.

Why was it so bad today?

Why today of all days?

Oh fuck, I thought as I looked at the calendar that's behind my desk. It was November 1st. The day my powers manifested. The first seasonal festival after I turned thirteen. In the early morning hours after several hours of celebrating, my Gran guided me through the blessing ritual, the sacred oils still lingering on my skin.

When I went to sleep, my spirit light and free with my new future. He appeared to me in a dream. It was innocent. A happenstance. A meeting that would redefine my existence.

But it changed my life.

I was a vulnerable teenager. Little more than a puppet to Rowen. But, somehow he saw through me, peering into depths I didn't know I possessed.

Those eyes haunted me. The black, obsidian depths. That would forever haunt my dreams. Scorning me, teasing me, playing with me. I'd wake up in a cold sweat, his gaze still burning into me from the darkness.

The Lord of Hell was everything I had ever dreamed of. Years passed. Gran died. Rowen used his connections to allow me to stay on my own despite my age, weaving a web of falsehoods around me.

Then things changed as I approached eighteen years old. I had no idea what I was doing. I was enamored by the man. Swept up in his intoxicating sexual haze. He drew me in. It was as if a switch flipped as I found him sexually attractive. That was the understatement of the century. I was obsessed with him. Wanting him every moment of the day and night, my skin burning whenever he was near.

It was that night my omega nature emerged, primal and untamed.

He taught me what it meant to be an omega and balance my new instincts with my magic abilities, his hands guiding mine through ancient texts, his voice low and hypnotic in my ear.

That was what Rowen wanted. Me under his spell completely and utterly entranced by him so that I can do his bidding. For me to stay hidden and known only to him, a secret weapon at his disposal. The rare Witch Omega. A prize to be possessed and controlled.

Able to give birth to alphas worthy to be an heir to a kingdom.

I wouldn't be his puppet or broodmare. No matter what he promised me, what visions of grandeur he painted with his honeyed words.

I was distracted by the bell above the door as it rang signaling a new person entering my establishment. I looked up to see one of the most handsome men I'd ever seen smiling as he walked through the door. Blonde hair swept over his forehead and brushed across his ears, framing beautiful turquoise eyes as he looked down at me with a smile that made my knees weaken despite myself.

"Hello, I'm looking for Sierra," he said as he looked around focusing in on me and giving me a smile that was worthy of a toothpaste commercial, all perfect white teeth and dimples.

"I'm Sierra," I replied as I gave him an equally brilliant smile back. It wasn't often that I had experienced beautiful men like him in my shop. In fact, the only men that came in here were middle-aged, and humoring their wives, or following them around like lost puppies.

"Then you're exactly the person I'm looking for." His smile took on a sinister tone and I watched his form flicker before my eyes flashing black and red, pulsing with power. The glamour cracked, revealing something ancient and dangerous beneath.

"I don't want any trouble." I held my hands up in the air pushing a wave of calmness towards this being. I couldn't tell what kind of creature he was. There was something very different about him. Something strange, yet familiar. Was he one of Rowen's demons? The thought chilled me to the bone.

He turned that perfect smile on. "Oh, you may not know who I am but I know who you are Sierra and I'm here to take you. My boss demands it of me." His voice carried an echo, like multiple voices speaking at once.

My blood went cold as power flickered the lights going on and off. My defenses rose, energy crackling beneath my skin. Who the fuck did this guy think he was? Did he not know who he was dealing with? The spirits around me scattered, sensing danger.

I may be young but I was powerful. Rowen would expect nothing less. He trained me himself and there was no way this creature would defeat me. I gathered my magic, ready to unleash it.

"How cute. I can see the wheels turning, little one, but you're sadly mistaken. I do know a way to get you."

In a blink of an eye he pulled out a pistol from behind his back and shot me directly. I felt the prick of a needle in my neck and I reached up and plucked the dart out of my flesh staring down at it, disbelief coursing through me.

Poison?

He poisoned me? What the ever loving fuck? Was he stupid? The dart felt innocuous between my fingers, but the spreading numbness told me otherwise.

Did he really think this was gonna work? I was immune to many poisons due to my genetic makeup. Grandmother had made sure of that, feeding me small doses since childhood.

Oh shit, my vision started to go crazy, blackness creeping in along the edges like spilled ink. I guess he had done his homework. Whatever this was, it was specially formulated for someone like me.

A moment before the darkness took over completely I reached out for the first time in years. Panic clawed at me and it was the only reason why I reacted so rashly. My pride shattered in the face of real danger.