Page 2 of Rejected By the Shifter King

She would ask you what you wished...

And maybe that was how it had happened for Misty, but...

It didn't seem like the jinn was asking a question right now, with the way she was looking at him, circling him. And her movements...alternating between crawling and undulating, like a creature unused to working with human limbs—-

"AMMON."

The roughly whispered word had Lysander's head jerking up.

He was right then.

This creature already knew.

And almost as if the jinn could hear his thoughts, he saw her head bobbing just as her lips stretched back in another smile that was both ghastly and ethereal.

"You come for it."

Lysander slowly nodded back. "I did."

"Your blood runs from the line of Allards, a family I know to be kind and brave."

"Yes."

"Your people have been good to me, and so I say this to you."She lifted a finger, pointing straight to his heart, which almost stopped the moment he heard her voice inside his head.

The beast you wish to take into you is ancient, its power inextinguishable.

Once it rises, it will try to tear out of the cage of your soul.

It will try to devour your body from within.

You must find a way to tame the beast without breaking its spirit; make it bow to your command before it drives you past the abyss of madness and despair.

****

STANDING AT THE EDGEof the woods were a pair of men, identical in every way save for their eye color. Their rough, good looks, coupled with their deceptively lazy posture, drew attention away from the way their gazes constantly scanned their surroundings, their senses alert for any possibly hostile presence...

A twig broke under the heavy fall of footsteps.

...or the return of their prince.

The twins lunged into perfectly synchronized motion, Alain and Aluin dropping all pretenses of nonchalance when they saw a badly bruised Lysander coming up to them. For all that their prince was commonly dismissed as nothing but a handsome, exceedingly well-dressed fop, those closest to the Allard heir knew that his elegant countenance and playful charm were nothing but a camouflage. Underneath it all was a lethal and ruthless killer, and so it begged the question—-

"What the fuck happened in there?" Aluin demanded tautly under his breath. Lysander's swordsmanship was unparalleled, and for him to come back looking like Hell had chewed him up to pieces...what kind of fucking monster could that jinn be?

"Doesn't matter what happened," Lysander said, his voice taking on a sardonic tone despite his exhaustion. "The outcome's all that matters..."

The twins drew their breaths sharply, both of them knowing what the prince's mission was - and what the jinn had to do with it,ifshe chose to be involved.

"She agreed..." Alain guessed. "But there's something else, is there?" Because there always was one and always would be, with creatures like jinns.

Lysander's face turned impassive as memories of the jinn's last words played in his mind like a taunting melody.

Above all else, you must find a mate to anchor yourself to this world.

Without a mate, the beast will take over, and you as you know yourself will disappear for all eternity.

Heed my words or throw your life away.