Chapter 2
Weeks have passed, and every second I was forced to wait for approval to pass through this portal has only served to fuel my desire for vengeance. Vengeance so strong that I can taste the smokiness of its depths with every breath I take.
At least until her.
The moment my boots touch down on Earth, I’m intent on finding a witch that would be willing to go against their own kind to help me track the one that wronged me, but fate seems to have other plans.
My mate is here. Right fucking here in front of this portal.
I scan the area, blinking rapidly as my eyes painfully adjust to the brightness of this world. And then I see her.
The woman I never thought I would meet is here, and it couldn’t be at a worse time. Regardless, the draw to go to her, to fall at her knees and claim her… I can’t ignore it.
All need for retaliation falls to the wayside as I move forward, but the closer I get, the faster she seems to move from me. Part of me wants to chase her, yet that’s not what my instincts tell me to do.
I drop to my knees, uncaring of those around me, and call out to her. “Mate.”
Her back is to me, and long, nearly white-blonde hair falls down over her shoulders that stiffen as I say the singular word.
When she turns around, the burning in my chest only intensifies, and it’s as if I’ve been struck by the stars above.
Her bright yet almost pale blue eyes appraise me, and there’s a tightness forming around her cheeks as she frowns.
Does this female not understand?
“Mine.” The word comes out strangled and distressed.
She needs to know what she is. My mate.
Except, that seems to only make things worse.
The force of a woman practically snarls before casually saying, “Sorry, you’ve got the wrong woman.” She spins around in the opposite direction, her hair floating behind her with the intensity of her movements as she begins to walk away from me.
What in the fuck is happening?
I don’t know, but I didn’t spend hundreds of years locked inside my own mind only to finally break free—mostly free, anyway—and be faced with this nonsense. I’d not only been trapped by the chains that bound me, but inside the shadow world that was a prison long before that witch Kel got her claws into me.
When I finally grasped on to a semblance of freedom, thanks to our God Caius finding his own liberty, I swore it wouldn’t be wasted. While my intention with that had been forged in vengeance, the same applies to the woman I’ve just found.
Before my mate can disappear, I’m up off my knees and chasing after her. She’s moving quickly and darts behind a building, but even without access to my wolf, I don’t need to see her to track her.
No, her scent—a rich vanilla mixed with a spicy cinnamon—has already been ingrained in me. A smell I won’t forget for the rest of my life. One I will chase through all the worlds if I must and makes my heart explode with want so thoroughly that all the rage I’ve been consumed with for centuries falls to the wayside.
When I turn the corner where I last saw her, there’s an alleyway, and she’s just standing there, frozen against the wall in her wolf form.
Her beast is a stunning white, almost blindingly so. The purest color I’ve ever seen in my thousand years.
The wolf whimpers, then snarls, teeth bared and eyes narrowed.
“What is your problem, woman?” I demand, barely able to keep from yelling. She’s still my mate even if she’s trying to pretend otherwise and starting to piss me off.
A shimmer forms around the wolf, and she transforms from an animal to the beauty I first saw. Though, her glare is still firmly in place.
“You could see me just now?” she asks almost accusingly, as if I’m the one that did something wrong.
“It’s not as if you were hiding very well,” I tell her, nodding toward the open alleyway. “There’s nothing to conceal you here. Especially when your wolf is that bright.”
Her chest rumbles. “I don’t normally have this problem.”
Again, she tries to walk away from me, but this time I’m close enough to grab her.
My fingers wrap around her wrist as I tug her back toward me. Not hard enough to hurt her, but enough that her feet misstep and she tumbles into me.
The heat of her skin brushes against mine, deepening the thrum of the bond I can feel pulsing through me. “Mate.”
“Will you quit calling me that?” she snaps and tries to get away again, but she’s trapped between me and the brick of the alleyway.
The scowl she gives me has my lips turning upward. At least until she begins to speak again. “If you think for one second you can force yourself on me, then you better think again. Just because my concealment didn’t work on you, doesn’t mean I’m defenseless.”
Her words are like a punch to the throat. “Force myself on you? You’re my mate. Do you not feel the bond, our connection?”
She laughs in my face. “I don’t know how things work in Tartarus, but in this world, a woman has the right to choose who she mates with. Fates be damned. And I don’t choose you, whoever you are.”
“I’m Drake Cage,” I tell her, doing my best to mask the pain slashing through my chest from her harshly spoken words. “Why wouldn’t you want a mate to protect you?”
Does she somehow already know that my wolf is bound by dark magic thanks to that witch? Does she think of me as not worthy?
Even though I’ve spent most of my life basically frozen in time and trapped inside my own mind, I could hear the world around me. Mates still existed and they were drawn to each other unlike any other kind of energy is capable of. At least back on the other side of that portal.
Is it possible that this Earth no longer possesses the same magic? Even if she finds me unworthy, I expect her to still feel something toward me.
She pushes at me again and this time I stumble back, unable to fight against the tightness consuming my insides and making everything burn, ten times worse than my earlier taste for revenge.
Once she’s out from between my arms and no longer trapped against the wall, she gives me a onceover. “You seem capable of many things, but I don’t need anyone. I’m doing just fine on my own. You need to accept my rejection and move on, Drake Cage.”
The word “rejection” intensifies my agony, making me feel as if I’ve been returned to my previous nightmare, confined inside my own body, unable to control anything around me.
“No,” I finally say as she’s about to turn around.
“No?” Her brow raises. “So, you do have every intention of forcing yourself on me.” Her laugh is dark and almost threatening. “I wish you luck with that.”
My currently nameless mate spins on a heel and starts walking away from me, but every instinct in me refuses to let her go, while at the same time, my innate desire is to give her anything and everything she wants.
Except the one thing she’s asking for.
“I’ll give you whatever you want,” I tell her pleadingly. “So long as you give me the chance to prove myself as your mate. Whatever reason you have to not want me, at least give me this opportunity to show you who I am before you truly decide. Until then, my answer to your rejection will remain the same.”
As I speak, I can hear how pathetic I sound, but more than that, I’m desperate. Desperate for this woman. To earn her acceptance. To show her that our lives will be better spent together rather than apart.
Her lips flatten into a hard line, and her distrusting stare keeps me in place as she replies with, “Why? What do you get out of this? Are you on the run from something in your world?”
She doesn’t trust me, and she’s right not to, but I’ll show her that she’s the only being in all the worlds that doesn’t have to fear me.
“You’re my mate,” I tell her since that’s all I need to know, but apparently, that’s not a good enough reason for her.
“So? You can go claim a dozen women after me like I’m sure you’ve done before.”
Hmm, is that her actually being curious about me? Possibly, and I’m happy to take the bait.
“There may have been few before you, Mate, but there will be none after you. Not now that I’ve found you.”
I expect at least some appreciation for my sincerely spoken words, but she chooses to laugh in my face instead. “First, stop calling me Mate, and second, I call bull-fucking-shit. You don’t even know me, and lying will not win me over.”
My body recoils at her accusation. “I have no reason to lie to my mate.”
“I said stop calling me that.” The growl that accompanies her words feels broken as she rubs her palms over her face.
“What should I call you then?” I ask, not giving her the space I can only assume she wishes for. She’s stopped trying to run away, so I’m at least making progress.
Her fingers slide down her cheeks, and her eyes go flat along with her voice. “Nothing. You’ll call me nothing, because we’re done here.”
It seems I’ve spoken too soon, but that doesn’t mean she’s right.
“Mate, please.” My words have their desired effect, and she freezes with her back to me.
“For fuck’s sake,” she mutters, then faces me again. “Spencer. My name is Spencer. Does that earn me some time alone?”
Defeat is etched into her fair skin, and the vision of her unhappiness has my chest tightening another notch. As much as I intend on fighting for my—Spencer, I don’t want to hurt her, either.
“Yes, I will leave you be for now,” I tell her sincerely, “but I won’t be far. I deserve a chance to prove myself, and whether you want to admit it or not, we are mates. Where I come from that means something and that’s not anything I intend to walk away from without fighting for you.”
Her shoulders sag, but I don’t believe it’s in relief—not after what I’ve just confessed. Still, she nods. “Fine. Just don’t be some creep and try to watch me sleep. I will cut you without even an ounce of remorse if I find you in my…room.”
“I believe that’s an acceptable request,” I tell her, stepping closer until I’m able to brush the back of my fingers over her reddening cheeks. “I’ll be seeing you, Spencer.”
She can’t hide the shiver of desire that moves through her body from the contact—at least, that’s what I allow myself to believe—but she does maintain her attitude.
“Unfortunately, it seems so.” This time when she gives me her back, I don’t chase after her.
Instead, I inhale deeply, allowing the hints of vanilla and cinnamon to further mark me, then grin widely.
This woman will be mine. I will show her that I’m worthy, and then, I will get my vengeance.
As much as I need that witch dead and my wolf back, no one will ever come before my mate. Not now, not ever.