Page 22

Rakshasa

I could scent her before she even stepped through the opening and entered the throng of people. The problem was that I could also scent him. The Daemon bastard that thought he could steal my mate away from me before I had the chance to test her true strength, to determine her worthiness.

His scent was all over her, and hers all over him.

I wanted to tear the skin from their bodies to remove it. Until proven otherwise, the little Witch was mine.

I continued watching from the shadows, though I was unable to hear anything they said over the ruckus of the room. The low din of voices had risen with the Humans and the Daemons beginning to mingle, and with the heavy beat of dozens of wings from the angles hovering above us the noise turned chaotic quickly.

A few of my Clan retreated, their animals more solitary and were repelled by the bustling activity of so many supernatural races forced together. Even more concerning was that we had believed them to have died out a long time ago, the stories our elders told of them passed down from generations and more fantastical than realistic. I had been running through all the ones I could remember in my head while studying them, gathering information I could use for our benefit.

The Daemons were ruled by their curiosity. Clearly social creatures, they were wary of the rest of us and protective of themselves, yet it didn’t escape my notice how they continued to glance in our direction, and the Human’s, and now the Angels’ as if they were holding themselves back.

The Angels seemed to be elevating themselves above us in a physical representation of how they viewed themselves. It would be interesting to see how the fared on the ground, but there were many within my clan with wings, so their self-righteousness was more of a hindrance to them than anything else. It would be a lesson they learned the hard way, likely with many of their ranks dead at our feet, but I had been brainstorming ways to ally with them.

Lastly, the Humans were the most varied in their reactions. Some, like my little Witch, were more curious and intrigued than others that seemed to want nothing to do with any of us. There were even more who resided somewhere in the middle, intrigued but with too much self-preservation to do anything about it.

It wasn’t until the Warlock and Daemon that had gravitate toward one another had made a little speech to their respective groups that the mingling had even started. Somehow, though I was completely baffled how they had accomplished it, they were communicating with each other. Their languages were vastly different, the Human’s with softer, rounder words compared to the Daemon’s harsher grunting and growling. Yet, despite speaking completely different languages they understood each other.

It must have been some sort of spell cast by the Humans, though how I had missed the casting of such a powerful magic I couldn’t say. It must have been incredibly subtle to have escaped my notice.

I was also pissed off that they hadn’t included my people in their spell, the exclusion a blatant slight I would not let go unpunished.

Arcturus’s feet came to stand beside my head, though he was careful not to step on me. It would have ended in a very painful death if he had. I didn’t use my venom often on my own clansmen, but I had been known to when necessary. I typically preferred asphyxiating my prey. There was something about watching my kills gasp for breath at the mercy of my strength that activated my most basic, primal instincts. Eat, sleep, fuck. Those were my main pleasures in life, and hunting aroused all three. And currently, all three were being threatened.

I narrowed my eyes on the way the Daemon curled himself around what was mine , the protective action heating my blood and sending my mind into a tailspin. I didn’t even want the puny Human, not really. She was small and no matter how many vines she could throw from her fingertips she was still weak, and she looked more like a child than a woman. There was no muscle to her, just stick thin limbs swamped by oversized clothing. She was nothing like the woman of my people. Shifter women were tall, muscular, aggressive, and feral, the complete opposite to her.

And yet, my body reacted to hers like none other. My cocks were in a constant state of arousal, alternating between half hard and full mast, and I was disgusted with myself for it. I was an Alpha, not a child molester. Her little tantrum had proved her childishness in ways I would never live down.

I had to sever this bond before it solidified irreversibly.

‘ What’s the plan, Alpha?’ Arcturus asked and I could feel the way he vibrated with untapped energy beside me.

‘ Continue to study them. Report back their strengths and weaknesses but focus on the Witch and her friends. The boy, the Daemons, anyone close to her. We will need to strip her of her allies so she has nothing and no one left to protect her.’

‘We will make her pay, Alpha. She won’t get away with this.’

The rest of the clan bristled, their agreement shooting through the mind link on the curtails of their restlessness. A few of the females were eagerly awaiting the chance to Challenge my little Witch, and soon I would let them.

Soon, we would show them all just how weak she truly was and I would crush her. Then my place as Alpha would be indisputable and all the races would bow down to my superiority. They would quake with fear at the mere whisper of my name, and no one would dare attempt to tame me again.