Page 6

Sierra

A s I floated off in dreamland—a state that was forced on me by Archer—I relieved all sorts of memories that I wanted to forget. Not the gentle kind that fade with time, but the sharp, jagged ones that cut deeper with each remembrance.

Mainly the night Rowen abandoned me.

Phoenix, Arizona

2017

I laughed as the rain started to pour from the sky. A monsoon! It was my first one and I wasn't going to miss the opportunity go out and dance in the humid rain. The air felt electric against my skin, like it recognized something kindred in me.

With Rowen's help I moved to Arizona after the death of my Gran. There was nothing left for me in Colorado so I searched around the US for places to settle. I decided on here. The heat called to something primal inside me, something I didn't yet understand.

"Rowen!" I shouted as my clothes were already soaked through. A huge smile played out on my face as I turned in circles beneath the torrential downpour, my silver hair plastered against my skin. "It's fun! And there's so much energy from the thunder."

I squealed with delight as the earth shook beneath my feet with a thunderous boom. The vibrations traveled up through my bones, making me feel connected to something ancient and powerful.

Archer moved into view behind Rowen and gave me a soft smile. Those were rare, so I savored it. His dark hair clung to his face, framing those ice blue eyes that always seemed to see right through me.

My magic reveled in the energy dancing in the atmosphere and I stopped spinning to turn my face up toward the sky.

My fingertips sizzled as electricity danced between them.

I'd never felt this energized. This alive and filled with power.

It was like discovering a part of myself I never knew existed, like finding a missing puzzle piece.

"Rowen," I called again, extending my arms for him to join me. I wanted him to experience the same joy I was. He was always so serious, so closed off. I'd made it my mission to get more excitement into his life. To see those obsidian eyes light up with something other than duty.

His aura flashed red and black as a change swept over him. "Sierra, get back here now!" He growled viciously, his voice filled with demonic power that seemed to vibrate the very air between us.

Silver glinted off Archer's daggers as he extended them and stood at the ready. The weapons appeared in his hands so quickly it was like they materialized from his will alone.

"What?" I laughed, still too drunk on the power in the air to react quickly enough.

The confusion barely had time to register before everything changed.

The air vibrated around me a moment before white hot piercing pain struck my middle.

My belly cramped as intense waves of pain radiated from my abdomen, like something was trying to tear me apart from the inside.

I collapsed to the wet earth, something exploding out of me as I screamed out my pain. My vision went dark, the rain intensifying against my skin like tiny needles. But I could only hear one sound, the growls of hungry beasts surrounding me. Primal, ancient sounds that didn't belong in this world.

But we were in the middle of the city. There wasn't anything that could make that type of sound. Not in this realm, at least.

I reached out with my powers, grasping at anything to make up for my lack of sight and the pain radiating throughout my middle. It felt like trying to hold smoke—slipping through my fingers just as I thought I had a grip.

The beasts called for me, demanding that I answer them and draw them to me. Their voices slithered into my mind, promising pleasure beyond imagining if only I would surrender.

"Sierra, stay down. Don't make a sound."

Archer's voice. So stern. Forceful. But there was an underlying note of fear. I'd never heard that from him before, and it terrified me more than the pain or the darkness.

I started to shake. My teeth chattering as I fought to control the tremors.

"Rowen." I reached out along our secret mental pathway.

Something he told me to avoid when we weren't in his home.

But I couldn't help it. My body was on fire.

Sizzling despite the rain continuing to fall around me. "It hurts."

Obsidian eyes flashed red as our gazes snapped together. His face hardened, aura flickering with deep tones of blue. Sadness? What did he have to feel sad about?

I was the one hurting so badly. What the hell was going on? It was like period cramps on steroids and then put some electric shock devices on there too. Damn. Every nerve ending felt raw and exposed, as if my skin had been peeled away.

"We need to do something, Rowen." I could barely make out Archer's words as he leaned closer to Rowen, his daggers still glinting dangerously in the rain.

"I know." There was the deep flicker of sadness again. "This can't happen again. She's better off without me. Fuck, how could I be so stupid. This is all my fault."

Archer laid his hand on Rowen's shoulder for a moment before they sprang into action, a silent communication passing between them that I couldn't decipher through my haze of pain.

But it was a second too late.

Someone lifted me from the ground by my hair.

I screamed, clawing at the hands and desperately trying to access my magic.

But it was buried beneath the pain, the electricity that sizzled over me from the rain had disappeared and the power along with it.

I felt hollowed out, empty in a way I'd never experienced.

"You're going to be mine, little bitch omega," the beast snarled and his long forked tongue slid along my throat, making me shiver with revulsion. The stench of sulfur and decay filled my nostrils, making me gag.

"Over my dead body." Rowen's voice was deep, his demon form flickering into existence. Horns curled back from his forehead, and that tail cut through the air with an agitated flick. "Now get your hands off my omega."

His omega? It was the first time he'd referred to me as his. I'd longed to be his. The sexual tension between us was intense and all consuming now that I'd turned eighteen, but he always pulled away. Even as I dangled in the grip of a monster, my traitorous heart leapt at his words.

"I don't think so." The demon behind me spread his clawed hand over my belly, his sharp talons digging into my flesh and slicing through my shirt. I felt my skin part beneath his touch, a fresh wave of agony washing over me.

Please, Rowen, help me. I whimpered, pleading with him to save me. To not let this be how I died, in the rain, far from home, at the hands of a creature I couldn't even name.

With a flurry of movement too fast for my mind to comprehend, the presence behind me disappeared and I collapsed to the wet ground. The impact jarred every inch of me, sending fresh waves of pain through my abdomen.

Several seconds flashed by, and I registered Archer standing over the demon, several daggers poised in his hands while the rest embedded in the demon's flesh. His face was a mask of cold fury, more terrifying than I'd ever seen him.

Then I felt it. What I thought was just the rain still soaking through my skin, wasn't just that.

Sharp and burning pain swept through me, and I placed a hand over my belly, only to pull it away and stare at the bright crimson blood mixing with the rain still falling gently from the sky.

The red swirled into pink patterns as it washed away, taking pieces of me with it.

"Rowen. Archer." My voice shook as darkness crept in on the edges of my vision, like ink bleeding into water.

They both knelt in front of me. Archer had droplets of blood scattered on his face as his brow furrowed with concern, his daggers still gripped tightly in one hand.

Rowen was another matter entirely. I wasn't prepared for his full demon form.

Black skin mottled with red, his eyes bright crimson with black coloring his sclera.

His horns were longer, and that tail I dreamed about was now tipped with a vicious looking point.

He was magnificent and terrifying all at once.

"Sierra," Rowen's voice was distant now, the buzzing in my ears growing louder as I felt my blood pulse from my body. Each beat of my heart seemed to push more of my life away from me.

"Help." My throat was raw and I was barely able to get the word out. It felt like swallowing broken glass.

"We need to get a healer, Wen. Her lifeforce is slipping away." Archer shook Rowen's shoulder, urgency making his movements sharp.

"I know, I feel it." There was so much pain in the statement tears blurred my vision further. "We have to leave her in the human realm. She isn't safe anymore. Being close to us is triggering her heat. Fuck," Rowen roared, the sound making the ground shudder and roll beneath us.

Archer cursed and his hand splayed over my belly and the open wound. Warmth spread through me, making my fingers tingle. It was like sunshine after the longest winter, reaching into the coldest parts of me.

"Archer, you can't." Rowen tried to pull him away, but he held a hand up as a snarl curled his upper lip.

"I don't care. She'll die." Archer looked down and his eyes turned a brilliant white as they glowed. His form flickered and I swear I saw wings sprout from his back, massive and luminous against the dark sky. But unlike Rowen's wings, they were white and feathered.

"So beautiful," I whispered, my bloody hand reaching up and touching the pristine white feathers. They were softer than anything I'd ever felt, warm and vibrating with a power that felt nothing like demonic energy.

"Hold on, little one." Archer gripped my wrist and brought it back down to my side, his touch infinitely gentle despite the urgency of the moment.

I felt my strength slowly returning, the warmth from his touch somehow healing me. A demon with healing powers? It was almost unheard of. The contradiction made my foggy mind spin.

But those wings…

My gaze fixated on the streak of crimson I'd left. My blood, stark against the purity of his feathers, like a promise or a warning I couldn't quite understand.

"Archer, that's enough. Stop before someone feels the energy. Let's get her away from here."

The warmth from Archer's touch abruptly disappeared and I wanted to weep at the absence. The cold rushed back in, making me gasp.

It felt like more than just his healing energy leaving. It felt like it was his own goodbye. Something final and devastating in the way his eyes met mine one last time.

The feathers disappeared, along with the glowing light surrounding him, leaving me bereft in ways I couldn't articulate.

"Sleep, Sierra." Rowen drew my attention back toward him. "I'm sorry. For everything. I hope one day you can forgive me."

Darkness engulfed me and my body went limp, his words echoing in my mind as consciousness slipped away. The last thing I felt was raindrops mixing with my tears.