Aurora
I watch in horror as Desire breaks the Asgardian. The blows of the branch shatter bones with a dry, nauseating crack. The wood unable to take the strain, splinters in his hands.
“Seize these Asgard bastards!” my fiancé barks, and only now do I notice we’re not alone.
The third one—Hank—backs away, trying to escape, but Desire rises right in front of him. A hard hook to the jaw, a dull blow to the gut—and Hank slumps with a wheeze, but that’s not enough for Desire. He grabs him by the collar and slams his face into the stone-paved path.
His warning from our first day on campus pounds like an icy bell in my head: “If someone who isn’t in the club wanders into Kingdom territory, they die.”
I feel panic. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the tree is empty—Chloe is gone, only trampled grass remains. I’m shaking violently.
Desire freezes over Hank’s limp body and lifts his head.
Red drips from his bloodied knuckles. He’s not wearing the Prince Harming mask, but his real face is a thousand times more terrifying.
The predatory, primal snarl of a beast reveling in violence paralyzes me until survival instinct takes over, then I turn and bolt.
Brambles scratch me, the darkness is sticky; my lungs burn from ragged breaths.
I can’t stop. I didn’t just see a fight but a methodical execution.
When the person you’ve been waiting for, the one you’ve missed, turns into a killing machine, your mind screams danger.
Even knowing he was protecting me, I feel his rage is too vast for me to survive it.
From behind me come fast, steady footsteps. He’s not running—he’s stalking.
“Where are you off to, my princess?” His voice vibrates with a low growl.
I run faster, gasping for air. The gold collar digs into my throat, turning into a noose.
My fingers tremble, but I find the clasp, undo it, and toss the choker into the grass.
In that same instant, I’m yanked back against a hot, solid body.
Strong fingers, sticky with fresh blood, close around my neck and chest, stealing my breath.
“Want to play, babe?” he exhales into my ear from behind, and his heat chills me.
I jerk, trying to break free from the iron grip. “I’m not your fucking toy!”
He kicks the back of my knee, pressing his full weight on me, and I fall onto all fours in the trampled grass. He forces me into the ground, crushing me with his body. “You’re my fiancée. And my prize.”
“Prize for what? For maiming people?” I spit into the dirt.
“No. For killing them.” His heavy, hot breath burns the back of my neck. “Wasn’t that bastard about to rape you? I saved you. Does that not get through to you?”
He knocks my supporting arm out from under me, dropping me onto my stomach, then roughly rolls me onto my back. Pinning my hips with his, he leaves me no room to kick him. I writhe helplessly beneath his weight.
“There’s not an ounce of nobility in you! You’re not doing this to save me! You just want me.”
“We’re all fucking animals, babe,” he growls, catching my wrists mid-air and slamming them into the ground above my head. “I kill for you because I want your cunt. And you’ve been waiting for me because you want my cock.”
I choke on rage and helplessness, staring into his darkened eyes. He looks like a dangerous predator playing with cornered prey.
“Or are you going to tell me you didn’t miss me?” His hips grind into my lower belly, and the harsh pressure ignites a fire inside me instantly.
That bastard knows everything. His animalistic logic is terrifyingly sound. What’s more, it turns me on, and that drives me crazy. Then, why did I run when I saw the blood on his knuckles?
My eyes burn with tears, and I gasp for the night air. Because I was scared.
“You frightened me,” I whisper, breaking into tears.
Desire leans down and slowly licks the tears from my face. “Yes. But that’s how it should be. That’s why you want me. You need that fear. You need to run from me, and, at the same time, you know I’ll always catch you.”
My heart plummets into an abyss. I’m terrified by how deeply he sees my true nature. How well he understands me.
“And you need my protection. No one could protect you from Alistair or Zack. No one but me. I scare you more than both of them combined, but I’m the one standing between you and the other monsters.
I’m your personal hell and your only salvation.
You take my cock in your mouth because fear of power turns you on more than any sweet word.
I’m your worst nightmare, but I’m also your best shield. ”
I stare into his dark, bottomless eyes and part my trembling lips. “No. Not just that. You’re the only one who’s ever protected me.”
In his hand, as if from nowhere, the gold choker appears, covered with grass and debris.
“That’s my girl. Allow me.”
I lift my chin, and he snaps the lock shut. The suffocating sense of security returns. I have nothing to say. He’s right. Steve said Desire killed Zack’s hired gun, who promised to rape me. If my Prince Harming had lost that fight, I would have been finished.
“I’m not sure I like your cruelty,” I whisper, but my leg hooks over his hip, pulling him closer.
He sinks his teeth into my neck as he unzips his pants. “The important thing is that your pussy likes it.”
Fuck. He can feel my wetness through the lace. When he lifts my dress, shoves my panties aside, and pushes into me with one powerful thrust, I arch my back, burning up in an instant orgasm. Pure, wild chemistry—I’ve never come so fast.
“And you enjoy coming.” He grins, animalistic.
“So do you.” I dig my nails into his shoulders. “You’ve never come with anyone the way you do with me. Tell me it’s true.”
He closes his eyes, delivering a deep, crushing thrust, filling me to the brim. “It’s true. I like that we’re starting to understand each other.”
Thrust after thrust, Desire rages on, flooding my cunt with pleasure, then pours into me powerfully. I shudder on the trampled grass, digging my nails into his shoulders, clinging to the fleeting feeling of our unity.
“Desire? Are you here?” Steve calls out from somewhere beyond the wall of bushes.
“Stay the fuck where you are!” Desire barks over his shoulder. The footsteps in the thicket immediately stop.
With obvious reluctance, Desire pulls back and helps me up.
We look at each other with admiration. I straighten my dress and press against his side—I don’t want to let go of this warmth so quickly.
His semen runs down my thighs, hidden beneath the hem, a reminder of what has just happened.
Suddenly, my gaze snags on a dark stain on his black shoulder.
“Desire, blood.” I touch the fabric. It’s sticky.
“The stitches have ripped again.” He glances down briefly and waves it off. “No big deal. One isn’t a problem.”
Another set of stitches? The one I saw before was on his side. Shit, how many wounds did he get in these two days?
“Steve, report,” Desire calls.
The captain steps out from the shadows of the trees, trying to look anywhere but at us. “We shut down the party. Right now, my guys are combing every inch of Kingdom territory for any other Asgardians. Those four have already been taken to the Citadel.”
“They were wearing our bracelets,” Desire says. “That’s how they got past the perimeter.”
“Can’t the bracelets be faked?” I ask.
“Not these.” Desire shakes his head. “The bracelets, like the princesses’ collars, have unique chips embedded in them. The Kingdom’s security system and cameras recognize them as friendly.”
“Those bracelets came from our reserve fund,” Steve adds. “Who knows how they ended up with Asgard.”
“It was Chloe.” My voice comes out surprisingly steady despite the weakness in my legs after Desire’s hard fucking. “She brought the Asgardians. She was wearing Zack’s shitty collar.”
“Chloe?” Steve raises his eyebrows. “She could have gotten the bracelets earlier and used them now. But why would she?”
“She wanted the Asgardians to rape me.” The words come easily, but Desire’s eyes flare with fury. “I think she was getting back at me for the gold collar. She hoped you’d find me disgusting and notice her again.”
“Oh, I’d notice her.” Desire nods, and his voice carries a death sentence. “I’d cut strips of skin off her until she stopped breathing.”
Strangely, his cruelty calms me—like the hot cum trickling down the inside of my thighs. I’m under the protection of the monster who’s more terrifying than all the others. It’s … comforting.
***
I’m sitting in the living room of the Citadel, the main house of the Kingdom, sunk into a large old-fashioned leather armchair.
Every now and then, I shiver—muffled screams drift in from the far wing.
Desire is interrogating the four Asgardians.
When we first came in, I demanded that he take care of his ripped stitches first. Here, under the bright lights of the hall, it became frighteningly obvious how pale he was—his skin had taken on a deathly gray hue from blood loss.
He just smirked at my audacity but gave in and told Steve to call their “stitcher.” It turns out, the Kingdom has its own doctor for such occasions.
I saw that, besides putting in new stitches, the doctor injected Desire with some kind of drug—probably a massive dose of stimulants or military-grade painkillers so he could stay on his feet. Then Desire left.
So I sit here alone, staring at the cold cup of coffee Isaac kindly brought me. Nausea keeps rising in my throat—it’s been my companion for the past day. Maybe I really did eat something bad? Or is my body trying to purge everything I’ve been through?
I walk to the window and press my forehead against the cold glass. Below, the garden stretches out: tables left in disarray and empty pathways look like a monument to an interrupted party.