Chapter 29 Selma #2
“In Western Colorado, off Route 40. Prince Naharan and some women—I think demons—attacked us. They’ve got Kain. Please, we need your help.”
A growl burst through the phone at her explanation, but the sound of it soothed her. His anger was directed at their attackers.
“I’m on my way. Do you have access to transportation?”
“Yes,” she said, glancing at the fancy car Kain had driven her straight from the Governor’s mansion to Colorado in.
“Good. I’m going to text you directions to a cafe in the nearest town. Drive straight there. I will be there in less than an hour. Do not stop for anything, understood?”
“Okay.” Knowing that someone who sounded as competent and in control as this Kesh was would be taking charge of the situation was a huge relief. Selma slumped against the side of the car when her muscles threatened to give in to the delayed shock. “Thank you.”
He grunted, then disconnected the call, leaving her alone on the side of the road.
Now that the reassurance of Kesh’s voice was gone, the darkness seemed to press in on her again, making her every hair stand on end. Somewhere out there, demons were hunting her.
The phone in her hand lit up with a text message—directions from Kesh.
But before she managed to read the text, a scraping sound from the other side of the car cut through the darkness, chilling her blood.
What the hell was that?
“Hello?” she called stupidly before biting down hard on her tongue. If whatever made that sound was capable of responding, she didn’t exactly want it to.
Moving faster than she’d thought possible Selma lunged at the driver side door. The sooner she got out of here, the better.
Her heart drummed hard in her throat as her adrenaline spiked for the second time that evening, but when her fingers pulled frantically at the handle, it didn’t budge.
How was it locked? She’d made sure to leave it unlocked when she got out, leaving the keys in the ignition. Frantically she pulled on the door again, but it still wouldn’t budge.
“Even when you reek of fear, you are the most delicious thing I’ve ever seen,” a deep, familiar voice purred.
Cold shock froze her to the spot, her fingers still curled around the handle. No.
Movement in her peripheral vision made her snap her head around just in time to see a large shadow move around the back of the car. It was too dark to see his features in the faint light of the stars, but she didn’t need a visual to know who it was.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
“Marathin.” She whispered the name of the man who’d first captured her, hoping against all hope that she was mistaken—that the demon who’d promised to bend her to his will wasn’t here, about to take her away and break her. “No.”
“Now, now, don’t say it like that, my sweet.
You’ll hurt my feelings.” There was a distinct smirk in his voice—the sound of a man who knew he’d won.
“After everything I’ve done to ensure we could meet without the interference of that brute who thought he could claim you after you’d given yourself to me. ”
Oh, god. Sick realization nestled in the pit of her stomach. “You are behind this? You captured Kain?”
“Oh, no—only another Lord could do such a thing.
But I may have been the one to suggest to the Prince that he should take care of your unworthy mate.
No royal can ignore a direct threat to their power, and His Highness was more than willing to listen to my suggestion of how to get rid of the Lord who challenged and beat him.
“You see, once Kain—” He spat the name as if the very taste of it tongue disgusted him.
“—got out of his mating high for long enough, he may have decided to lay claim to Naharan’s position.
It’s his right, after all, since he defeated a royal in an equal fight.
So as you can imagine, Naharan didn’t need much persuasion. I mainly provided the contacts.”
Contacts? Those females…
“What’s going to happen to him?” Despite her fear of the dark creature slithering around the car, she needed to know her mate’s fate. Somehow, she would make it through this nightmare and she would find him again. As long as he was alive, this monster couldn’t break her.
“Oh, the queen was most receptive when I approached her. You see, while Naharan worried he couldn’t take your mate on by himself, he couldn’t very well involve other Lords in this. Killing one of their own without provocation? It is treason, even for a Prince of Demons.
“So I came up with a simple solution: The females are struggling because our Lords are so much stronger than them—the males they can kidnap and breed with do not produce sufficiently powerful daughters. But if we were to offer them a Lord and a Stone of Power? Let’s just say that it’s very beneficial to me that the Queen of Demons owes me big. ”
The chill in her blood reached her heart. “You’re going to… breed him? He’ll never stand for that!”
Marathin chuckled and finally stepped close enough that she could make out his face in the darkness.
“I care nothing for the Lord’s fate—what happens to him will be in the hands of the queen.
I only care about you. The Prince thinks he’s procured my services on the promise that I get to mount you for a night, along with a sum of money, before he hides you away as his secret mate so no one will discover what he did. You and I know better.”
“You’re betraying him, too.” At this point, the fact that he would double-cross even the Prince of Demons didn’t shock her—it was merely a statement as she watched him slide a gloved hand over the side of the car. “You’re going to give up everything just so you can claim me.”
He smiled, faint starlight reflected in his teeth. “That is how much I love you, yes.”
Love. The word seemed to mock her as the face of the man who had truly given her his scarred heart flashed in her mind.
“You’re sick,” she snapped, anger suddenly welling up to mix with her fear. “You know nothing of love—you only want to possess me like some trinket! And you ripped my mate from me, thinking you could ever replace him. I will never be yours, you sick bastard!”
His smile turned into a sneer. “You signed my contract—I own you, every ounce and every breath. Did you truly think I was going to stand by and let someone take what’s mine?
I found you—I was the one who first mounted your little cunt, the first to teach you how to take a demon’s ridges. You begged me to keep you, remember?”
Before she managed to react, he took the final few steps to reach her and his hands came down on each side of her, clamping onto her shoulders. This close, she could see his face clearly, and the rage marring his handsome features was terrifying.
“I’ve given up so much for you. All I demand is that you obey the contract you signed. Once you’ve learned who your true master is, I will be good to you again.”
Selma squirmed to get away. Though she knew it was pointless, instincts for self-preservation took over, and she fought and kicked at him in her desperation. Once, he’d been able to sway her with his handsome features and kind mannerisms, but whatever attraction she’d had for him was gone.
Even if she hadn’t seen him brutally murder the people who’d tried to save her from him, Kain’s claim to her had erased other demons’ ability to influence her, and she felt nothing but disgust as Marathin’s hot breath puffed against the side of her neck.
“Let go of me!” she screamed as he lifted her up, only to press her against the side of the car a moment later. “I’m his, and nothing you do will change that!”
Marathin’s eyes glowed dangerously as he bent over her, blocking her view of the night sky.
“We’ll just have to see about that. Once I remind you of how perfectly we fit together you will change your tune, Breeder.
But at least he should have given you enough cock that I don’t have to twist your ring—you will be fully conscious through every moment while I reclaim your sweet little cunt.
You’ll have eternity to regret running from me—and I suspect you’ll start when you’re howling for mercy on my ridges! ”
Oh, god. No.
Cold realization set in just as he started ripping at her clothes. He’d raped her before, but this time, the dark magic welded around her clit wouldn’t ease the violation.
There’d been pleasure the first time he’d forced her. Her body, while at first struggling with his demonic anatomy, had been open and eager from his manipulations. Now every muscle in her body tensed with repulsion at his closeness, nausea churning in her gut as she struggled against him.
The pain of being forced to take his ridged mass while her body was unwilling terrified her, but what made her heart clench was the realization that someone other than her mate would demand access to the very core of her being, would take what only belonged to Kain.
She couldn’t live through that.
“No! Let me go! Stop!” Selma clawed at his face and kicked frantically at anything she could make contact with, but Marathin was much too strong.
Snarling, he ripped open her shirt to let her breasts spill into the cold air, then yanked her pants down so hard the zipper broke.
“Yield!” he growled. “Yield, or I’ll make it hurt even worse!”
He’d once claimed he’d never harm her, promises made by a demon cajoling his victim.
Kain had made her promises too, promises he’d given his freedom to keep.
The juxtaposition thundered in her head as she struggled against him, the twisted mockery that was Marathin’s claims of love finally making it crystal clear what’d been between her and her mate who’d sacrificed everything for her.
Love.
Bealith was right. But she’d never get to tell him.
In the end, it didn’t matter how much she resisted. Marathin was much too strong, and despite fighting and screaming as best she could, nothing she did made him stop.
When his hand brushed between her legs, separating her nether lips, there was nothing she could do to resist it.
Marathin grunted at her low sob, squeezing her wrists painfully tight. She tried to clamp her thighs together, but he simply lifted her to rest against the hood of her car and stepped in between her legs, separating them with his hips.
But where despair and violation had sprouted, something new rose from the very core of her being: a white-hot fire burning through her veins in a flash faster than she could fully comprehend, eradicating her fear until only deep, seething anger remained.
He dared! He’d ruined her life, had hunted for her across the entire country, and now he’d taken her mate from her just so he could violate her once more.
She’d cowered before him for the last time.
“I said no!” This time her voice was not a pleading whimper. She screamed in fury as the fire in her blood rushed up her arms and into her hands.
Marathin released her wrists with a startled shriek, stumbling back, and she didn’t pause to think. The second she was free, she grasped his face in her hands and squeezed.
His skin lit up with bright white light drawing fissures from where her fingers bore into him. He screamed then, his eyes wide with fear as he stared at her, but his body seemed limp, only held aloft by her grip.
There was nothing but grim satisfaction as she stared at his panicked eyes lit up from within with the raw, pulsing power rushing from her core.
With a crack like thunder, his head exploded between her palms in a burst of light. Selma tumbled to the ground, thrown by the shockwave. Belatedly she shrieked and cussed as her exposed skin grated against the rough road. But once she finally lay still, nothing but silence met her.
Slowly she sat up, panting from pain and a kind of soul-deep exhaustion that was wholly new.
On the ground a few yards over, Marathin’s headless body lay sprawled on the tarmac. Bits of bloody skull and brain matter were scattered around them both.
The nausea came before she could fully process the horrific scene, and she only just managed to lean over to avoid vomiting all over herself.
Once her stomach settled enough that she could fight against the dry heaves, she somehow found the strength to hoist herself up by grabbing onto the car.
She’d killed him. She’d killed her rapist. Her kidnapper. And she felt no remorse.
She didn’t know what that white light was or where it came from, but she knew without a doubt that it belonged to her.
Slowly she turned to look at what remained of the demon who’d ruined her life. This time, numbness quelled her nausea.
“I should have made you suffer for longer,” she whispered to his mangled corpse.
It was several moments before the faint hum of a motor finally tore her attention back to the present.
She may have escaped one enemy, but she was still being hunted. Mysterious white light or not, she needed to get to safety before the Prince found her, or both she and Kain were doomed.