23. Amon
23
AMON
I stalk down the corridor towards Allocer’s library, knowing full well I’d find him there. I could still feel Elora in my arms, could still feel her essence against my fingertips. Subconsciously I raise my fingers to my nose, inhaling her scent.
It sends pleasure-pain lancing through my groin.
I’m going to stay perpetually hard.
A growl escapes me as I round the corner into the library.
Allocer is standing, his back to the door, hands placed in his pockets, looking out a window.
He turns around, pushing the bridge of his glasses onto his nose. “Is she ok?” He asks.
I pull out a chair, sitting heavily. “She’ll be fine.” I growl. “I’m thankful we got to her in time.” I run a hand through my dark locks and sigh.
“Brother, we have a bigger problem.” The statement comes out flatly, the finality evident in my tone.
Allocer regards me silently before shifting.
“Listen, let me do the research. In the meantime, take your mate home, seal your bond.”
I sit forward, placing my elbows on my knees and clasping my hands out in front of me. I give Allocer a sheepish look.
He frowns before realization etches his features.
“She doesn’t know!?”
I hang my head in defeat. “I know. I haven’t told her…. I can’t bring myself to.”
Shaking his head, Allocer walks to a bookcase, leaning against it with his other hand on his hip.
“All hells, Amon, that’s not going to help matters.”
I shake my head at him. “You don’t understand. I need her to accept me. To want me because she truly wants me. Not because she’s forced.”
Allocer looks down at his feet, and silence draws out between us for a moment.
“Amon, you can’t expect her to understand right now, but she doesn’t need to. She probably feels it too.”
I say nothing. He’s right. I know Elora feels the bond between us.
It’s all I can feel when she’s near me.
“Do what you need to do… before it’s too late.”
I hear soft footsteps in the corridor and turn to see Elora walking around the corner warily. She regards both of us, her lavender eyes falling first to me, then to Allocer.
“Before what is too late?”
My heart softens instantly, and I sit up, taking her in. She’s so beautiful, and the soft green grown Allocer found for her suits her skin tone so well.
I stand, going to her to take her hand in mine.
Allocer glances at me and I give him a look.
He pushes away from the bookcase, walking towards us. “Before it’s too late to eat. Come, Elora I would love for you to join me for breakfast.”
He saunters out of the room and down the corridor. I wait until his footsteps echo down the corridor a ways before I turn to Elora.
I pull her into my arms, inhaling her scent deeply.
“I have to go for a little while, but I will be back soon.” I lay my cheek against the top of her head.
She pulls back, her eyes searching mine. I try to convey to her what I can’t say right now before I lean in, placing a soft, lingering kiss against her lips.
She grasps my upper arms, melting against me.
I groan against her mouth before I place a soft lingering kiss against her forehead.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can. I promise.”
Elora turns to walk away from me, pausing at the threshold. She looks back over her shoulder at me, her expression unreadable.
“Hurry up.” She says before she walks away, following after Allocer.
I use the portal to transport to my own realm through the gilded door. As soon as I am on my own plane, the energy within me shifts.
Anger fills me.
That red skinned demoness almost cost me my mate.
She would pay.
There wasn’t a ton of laws regarding mates in these realms, as it was considered an extinct possibility. It wasn’t the first time that one of my kind had mate bonded with a human, but it was so incredibly rare.
Now more than ever.
Hands clenched at my sides, I stalk to my chambers, throwing open the heavy door. I gesture to the fireplace, and a fire roars to life, exploding from the hearth, mimicking the anger within me.
I move to the table, plopping down in a chair. I open my hand, and a scroll shoots out from the bookshelf.
I unroll it gingerly, reading the words on the page that still shimmer like water. Running my finger along them, I watch as they sparkle before returning to their previous state.
A thousand years… or your death. Whichever comes sooner.
The words of the contract echo in my mind. She was willing to give up a thousand years to save a child.
What would she do when she found out she could spend eternity here with me?
Would she choose to? Would she choose to leave?
She was a creature of the Earth, not of this realm. I wasn’t familiar enough with this to know just how much of her would change to accommodate our bond.
Setting the scroll aside, I lean back in the chair, watching the flames dance in the fireplace.
I can sense the moment the air shifts.
My jaw ticks as barely contained rage roils beneath my skin.
She had some nerve.
“Master, you’re back!” I turn to see Balail’s slender form sashaying across the room towards me, threading her arms around my neck from behind.
I don’t move to touch her.
“I was so worried.” She croons, running her claws along my chest. “I haven’t been able to find Elora anywhere. Did you take her somewhere?”
The pitch of her voice belies her pitiful attempt, and I snap up from my seat.
I turn to face her, my face devoid of emotion.
“I-Is everything ok master?” she asks as she shrinks away from me. Her eyes flicker in fear, and I drink it in as it permeates the room.
“You tell me.” I respond, my voice low and deadly.
Her tongue flicks out to lick her lips, and then she seemingly catches herself and tries to brush it off.
“Ok, ok. Listen, I did you a favor. She was only going to get in your way-.”
My arm snaps out, and I wrap a hand around her throat, collaring her jaw with my thumb and forefinger.
“Do you have any idea what you could have done?”
The demoness cringes, trying to shrink in my grasp. I back her up towards the door, slamming her against it with a hard thud.
“Do you know what you almost cost me?”
Her eyes flicker with fear again, and her fear drives my bloodlust. I squeeze my hand around her throat slowly, watching her eyes widen. She reaches up, clawing at my forearm. The pain only drives me, pleasuring me, feeding my need for blood.
I lower my face to hers, a sneer on my lips.
“I warned you, demon.”
Balail attempts to try to speak, and I loosen my hand just enough for her to squeak out an apology.
“I’m...sorry.” She gasps.
The words do nothing to assuage me.
She’s getting too much air.
I should remedy that.
Balail squeaks out a gasp as I squeeze my hand around her neck. The whites of her eyes begin to turn red with bloodshot. I say nothing, but a second later I transport us, hovering above a giant pit in the ground.
Her eyes dart off to the side, trying to look below us as her fight renews. She starts to claw at my forearm again, drawing blood.
I hiss but don’t loosen my grip on her as I bring my face to within an inch of hers.
“I warned you; I’d throw you back into the fiery depths from which you came.”
The words are growled, and Balail gasps for air, looking up at me. Her eyes are full of pure unadulterated fear.
The sight makes me smirk.
“I feel generous today.”
I squeeze slowly, tighter and tighter until a crack fills the silence of the void around us. The demon goes limp in my grasp, her eyes rolling to the back of her head.
I release her, watching her body fall limply into the void beneath us.