Page 7

Aruan

T he sight that greets me when I exit the portal in the center of a volcano makes me see red. Elsie is lying face-down on a platform, her delicate ankle clasped in the clutch of a Phaelix who’s sprawled out on his stomach behind her.

Killing rage blasts through my veins. Fury boils my blood. Another male is touching my mate. Hurting my mate. The blood that has dried in her hair at the back of her head makes my vision fray around the edges.

In a wink, my power fires through me with such force that it feels as if my skin is aflame. I’m blind to everything but Elsie and the male who threatens her. The offense tastes sharp and bitter on my tongue. He dared to lay his dirty claws on what belongs to me. He drew blood. My mate’s blood.

He’s dead.

I’ll make that scaly piece of filth wish he was never hatched.

Targeting on the male the rage that continues to build like an earthquake inside me, I take great satisfaction from his screams as I dissolve him from his feet up.

At the first screams, Elsie stops struggling and whips her head to the side. Her lips part as our gazes collide.

The Phaelix lets go of Elsie’s leg, withering and yelling until there’s nothing left of him, but I’m no longer paying him attention. All my focus is trained on the small, fragile woman with hair the color of a pale sunset and eyes like the turquoise sea.

Mine.

Forever.

No one touches her and lives to see another day.

A single glance conveys those notions rushing through my head and beating in my chest. Only she can read my thoughts. And she does. I feel it. I also feel her relief as well as her dread.

Locked in that stare, we’re frozen in the moment. Everything else falls away. Nothing exists but Elsie.

When reality finally returns, I register the chaos that has broken out around us.

Phaelix are tripping over benches and stepping on those who have fallen to reach barges beached on the sand.

After seeing what has happened to their friend, they know what’s in store for them, and they think they can escape my wrath.

With a flick of my hand, I knit the rock mass in front of the cave together and seal off the exit.

The Phaelix who were headed in that direction stop in their tracks and spin on their heels to run in the opposite direction.

Some of them are trying to scale the steep cliffs, using their claws to climb up the almost vertical drop.

“Aruan.”

The sound of my name on Elsie’s lips is like a siren to my senses. Her voice pulls me. Her call is undeniable, impossible to ignore.

I look at her. She’s gotten onto all fours and is regarding me as if I’m both her downfall and her salvation.

I make it to her in a few long strides and lift her into my arms. “I’ve got you, my sweet. You’re safe now.”

She trembles from head to toe. “Aruan! The mountain… It’s going to blow.”

I hardly pay the groaning soil and roaring volcano any notice. “You’re hurt.” I hug her tighter to me while examining her body with a practiced eye. “You’re bleeding.” My anger reaches a new level. “What have they done to you?”

“It’s just my head.” She grasps my shoulders. “If this volcano is going to erupt, we’ll have bigger problems to worry about.”

It is going to erupt. I don’t bother reining in my power.

This place needs to be razed to the ground.

Any fool can see what’s been going on here.

I’ve just walked into the secret location the Phaelix have been using as a slave market.

We’ve been searching for it for many moon cycles.

My father delegated the task of eradicating the slave trading operation to me, and as fate would have it, the opportunity has fallen into my lap.

“Don’t worry,” I say. “The portal is open. I’ll get you out of here.”

“We have to take them with us,” she cries out when I start moving, pointing at a row of naked people lined up behind the platform whom I haven’t noticed.

The humans are smaller than the average Alit, but it’s not only their meager height that gives them away.

Their features are distinctly Earth-like with daintier bone structures and more sharply defined lines.

I recognize a few of those faces from the barge.

They’re the ones I sent on their way when I first found Elsie.

Back then, I was too consumed with having found my allegedly dead mate to worry too much about how they’d get back to Earth.

They study me now much like they had on that first day, looking as petrified as the Phaelix.

I don’t like to deny Elsie. Of course I won’t leave them here to die.

However, a group of humans will cause havoc at the palace.

The scrolls forbid all contact with Earth, and I don’t want it to be known that someone besides my mother can open portals to that world.

The believers—and there are many—will consider these humans to be violating one of the principal laws of their doctrine.

The result will be chaos. Plus, on a diplomatic level, it will be difficult to explain their presence without coming clean about the slave trading, which we’ve suspected for a while.

The objective of letting me deal with the issue quietly was to avoid pandemonium in the kingdom.

Bringing these unfortunate humans back with us will have the opposite effect.

I purse my lips. “I’m sorry, Elsie.”

A piercing shriek rips through the sky as a Phaelix loses his footing and tumbles to his death. The others climb faster, but the cliff face is too steep. A cruel smile curves my lips. Considering what awaits them, the one who fell was lucky. At least he died quickly.

When I look back at Elsie, she’s glaring at me. “You’re not suggesting that we leave them behind?”

“I’ll bring them to safety and set them free, but it’ll cause nothing short of a rebellion among the followers of the scrolls if I bring them to Lona.”

“Your mother can send them back to Earth,” she exclaims. “Why would you deny them that?”

“I won’t be able to keep their presence a secret at the palace. There are too many eyes and ears in that place.”

She crosses her arms and lifts her chin. “I’m not going without them.”

I narrow my eyes. “You’re making the mistake of thinking I’m giving you a choice.”

Panic flashes through her beautiful eyes. They glitter like gemstones as she cuts me to pieces with her angry gaze. “All right.” She clenches her dainty jaw. “Name your price.”

I turn toward the portal, tightening my arms around her. The portal has been open for long enough as it is. I don’t know how much longer my mother will be able to hold it.

“Wait!” Elsie says, glancing over her shoulder at the humans who stand uncertainly in place. “Aruan, please. I beg you. Stop.”

Dragons. I can’t deny her when she’s begging me. I pause to look down at her gorgeous face. Her cheeks are streaked with dirt, and her bloodied hair stands up in all directions, but she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve seen.

“If you take them with us…” she starts hesitantly. “I’ll…” The column of her neck bobs with a delicate movement as she swallows.

My curiosity is piqued. I arch a brow. “You’ll what?”

“I’ll mate with you willingly,” she declares in a rush.

I go still.

“Anytime and anywhere you want,” she adds. “I won’t be difficult or resist.” She takes on a pleading expression. “I’ll learn. I’ll try harder to please you.” She continues with darkening cheeks. “I’ll do my best to give you what you want in bed.”

Her offer stuns me. She is everything I want in bed. But her willingness to please me does something to my cock. It rises eagerly to the occasion. Albeit… “Did you just offer me sex in exchange for saving these wretches?”

The pink stains on her cheeks turn bright red, but the tilt of her chin is as stubborn as ever. “If that’s what it takes.”

“You’re willing to stay and never run away again for the sake of these humans?”

“I didn’t say that.”

Huge rocks are breaking loose from the summit of the mountain and flattening the palm trees on the island.

The world is literally falling to pieces around us, but I can’t help the smile that tugs at my lips.

Elsie is always feisty and full of surprises.

Not a single moment with her is boring. I could never grow tired of spending time with her.

“You’ll stay,” I say. “In my bed, where you belong. Promise me, and we have a deal.”

Her actions have consequences, but we’ll talk about her escape at home. The subject still makes me too volatile.

“Fine,” she mumbles under her breath.

“Come again?” I bring my ear to her delectable mouth. “I’m not sure I heard you.”

“I promise to stay where I belong,” she bites out a little louder. “Happy?”

“Very.” I flash her a dark smile. “But don’t think for a moment that will exempt you from your punishment.”

The blush vanishes from her cheeks, leaving them ashen. “Punishment?”

“We’ll worry about that later. Now hold on tightly, my sweet.”

“What about the Phaelix?” she asks, looking around. “They’re pretty much trapped in here.”

The violence that churns inside me carries on my voice. “Don’t worry about them.” Turning to the same woman I addressed the last time, the one who seemed to have understood me, I say in a tone that’s not entirely hospitable, “Come.”

You’d think they’d jump at the chance to leave with us. Instead, the flaxen-haired woman grabs the ones next to her and hangs back.

“It’s all right, Sandy,” Elsie calls to her. “Aruan is going to help you. We’ll get you back to Earth.”

At that, the woman relaxes her tight hold on her friends a tad. After a hesitant beat, she takes a step forward.

I head for the portal. “You have one beat to make up your minds. Once I’ve gone through, the portal will close behind me.”

“He’s going to destroy the island,” Elsie says, struggling in my arms. “Please, Sandy. Bring the others. Quickly.”

Seemingly coming to a decision, Sandy takes the hands of the women closest to her and pulls them to the platform. When she’s helped everyone up, they run toward us. Stopping in front of me, they avert their gazes, not daring to meet mine.

“Go on,” I order in a clipped tone. “I’ll follow when everyone has gone through safely.”

The humans shoot questioning glances at Sandy.

“You heard Elsie,” Sandy says. “If we stay here, we’re dead.”

The island is fast disintegrating. Long cracks run through the ground, and the mountain is shaking.

Phaelix hang like green fungus on the sides of the cliff, using any pair of legs dangling above them to pull themselves higher with no regard for the others they pull off, who plunge to their deaths on beach.

Sandy is the last woman to leave. When she’s entered the portal, I pull up a fraction of my power when all I want to do is to let it run wild. But I don’t know what will happen if I do, so I contend myself with only using a small portion of my talents.

Just before I leave with Elsie, I enjoy a moment of uninhibited freedom as I unchain my power and unleash my rage. The mountain blows in a massive spray of fire and sparks, burying the slave traders and their buyers under rivers of glowing red lava.