Taming Her Beastly Mate

Brian had his arm wrapped around Alexis’ waist as they walked outside and towards the large white tents that were put up for the dinner parties. It was customary for the dragons to come together for dinner in the evenings. This is when the acceptance k****s usually took place. Under the very public eyes of all the dragons from around the kingdom. Micah suddenly reached out and gripped Alexis’ arm tightly, causing Brian to also stop abruptly.

Micah stood frozen as he stared off into the distance. His eyes flickered towards the dark woods.

“Micah, what is it?” Brian asked as he searched for the hidden danger.

“Something is out there. Can’t you sense it? Can you not smell the b***d in the air?” Micah didn’t take his eyes off of the tree line.

Alexis furrowed her brows as she tried to concentrate. Unfortunately, her dragon and wolf were still recovering. Because of that, her senses weren’t as sharp as they usually were. But why couldn’t Brian sense anything? No one else around seemed to notice it either.

“I don’t sense anything.” Brian glanced down at Alexis and squeezed tighter around her waist. “Maybe I should take you inside.”

“Yes.”

“No!”

Alexis turned and stared at Micah. She pulled herself away from Brian and Micah’s grip. “Let’s go see what it is. All three of us.”

“That isn’t a good idea.” Micah shook his head completely against it.

“Well, if you are afraid to go I will check it out on my own.” Alexis grinned, biting her bottom l*p. She received two unamused glances from the men in front of her. They were both shaking their heads no at her. “Well, what exactly can you two do about it? It isn’t like you can stop me. Unless you want to run and get my daddy.”

“Alexis quit acting like a child and stay here!” Micah growled angrily.

Alexis let out a dry laugh and then nodded her head as she clicked her tongue. “I see. I am acting like a child…” An idea popped into her head as she met their gazes with confidence. “Well, I wasn’t acting like a child but if I am going to get accused of it…” She shrugged slightly as her lips twitched upwards.

Alexis suddenly shot out a blast of ice towards Brian and Micah, creating a thick solid barrier around them, momentarily holding them in place. Then she sprinted using her ice to ski away. She heard the sound of ice sizzling behind her, but she didn’t dare stop. The sound of thudding behind her let her know that Micah had shifted. And then there was a dark shadow above her as Brian’s dragon took to the skies. She smirked and rolled her eyes. Even without shifting, she could still evade them for a short time and that was all she needed.

She created a blinding thick mist using it as cover as she finally reached the woods. She heard the sound of Brian’s dragon crashing into the trees. He would now continue to follow her on foot. The sound of Micah’s bear was getting closer though. He was the hardest to escape from because he was naturally drawn to her.

The wind swirled around her, bringing the scent of iron suddenly beating against her face. There was also the smell of rotting flesh burning. The sound of grunts and fighting pricked at her ears as she ran deeper into the woods. What was going on?

Alexis abruptly stopped. Brian and Micah were at her side instantly staring at the sight in front of them. There were dozens of voidless laying dead on the ground. A young woman with dark brown hair, caramel skin, and hazel eyes shot a red streak from her hand killing three more voidless instantly. The young woman looked up in shock seeing the three people standing there.

“Alexis! You shouldn’t be out here! Why did you let her come out here?! Do your job!” The woman growled angrily.

Alexis glanced at Micah and Brian. Micah growled lowly and shifted back into his human form. He wasn’t threatened by whatever this woman was and felt confident in his raw strength if the need arose.

“Do we know you?” Alexis asked, gripping onto Micah’s shirt to stop him from engaging with the woman.

“Oh. Um… yeah…” The woman looked down at herself. She was covered in b***d and was a sight to behold. She kept her gaze on the ground and poked at the dirt with her foot. “Don’t look at me. I’m…” She tucked her hands behind her back trying to hide the b***d staining them.

Alexis tilted her head at the young woman curiously. “It’s okay. We aren’t bothered by b***d. What’s your name? How do you know us?” She listened to the low growl from Micah and she bumped her elbow into him.

Behave! Let’s see who she is.

Or I can kill her and ask questions later. Micah mentally snorted back at her.

“My name is Terra. I… I’m sorry. You weren’t supposed to see me. I had this area masked. Damn… Aken is going to be so mad.”

Alexis’ ears perked up and she stepped closer towards the girl.

“Aken? Do you know Aken? Who are you?” Alexis asked, feeling Micah and Brian both stepping next to her in a protective stance. Clearly, neither one of them trusted Terra.

“I’m not… just so you know… He and I…we aren’t anything. He took care of me after I lost my parents. And I serve him now. I watch over you when he can’t.” Terra chewed on her bottom l*p nervously as she glanced between the three people in front of her.

Alexis stood there quietly taking this information in. Aken made sure she was always being watched and protected. She couldn’t believe there were times she doubted if he wanted her.

“Aken took you in? What about your own kind?” Brian raised his brows at her questionably.

“My own kind…” Terra whispered out and shook her head. “No one wants me. I don’t belong to any kind. I am a demonic hybrid crossed with a pure-blooded vampire. A dhampir… I’m a vamon.” She squeezed her eyes shut and squeezed her fists together. “My parents… they fought on the other side of the war. I’m sorry. It probably makes you uncomfortable to know I am around. I didn’t mean to-”

“Terra.” Alexis smiled at the beautiful woman. Even with her hair messed up and dripping in b***d, you couldn’t argue her beauty. “If Aken trusts you then I trust you. I don’t care what your parents did. That isn’t what you did.”

Terra’s hazel eyes met with the sapphire eyes of Alexis. She was in shock and didn’t know what to say. There was no way she felt okay about her, right? Because she had convinced herself that she was a creature that everyone would hate. No one could ever see her as anything but vermin. A wet liquid crystal streamed down her cheek.

A loud grunting noise was heard again as several more voidless appeared from the brush. This time they fixated on Alexis and charged towards her. Terra immediately intercepted burning them instantly with her powers. All but one. One of them kept moving forward.

Micah stepped forward, pushing Alexis back to confront the voidless. But the creature stopped. A light came from its body and it collapsed to the ground. The dark light circled in the air before charging towards Alexis. It enveloped all four people and a voice came out from it.

“Alexis.”

Alexis watched a strange glow envelope them as the familiar deep voice of Erebus echoed around them. Terra quickly stood in front of her while Brian wrapped her in his arms. Micah looked around, shaking his head.

“He isn’t here.” Micah growled, moving closer to Alexis. This was just his voice, but his presence was nowhere to be felt.

“I wanted to send you a little message because I know you probably miss me.” He chuckled darkly. “Listen, I can wait for you. A dragon won’t live forever. You and I will. Aken needs to feel pain and I refuse to allow him to have you. You don’t know what he is like. I’ll be watching you. Make sure your chosen mate marks you tonight. Otherwise, I’m afraid your grandfather isn’t going to make it. Or maybe one of your cousins will have a horrible accident. So many possibilities. You know what to do, don’t you? Until next time my treasure.”

The message ended and the air cleared, leaving the four of them standing there quietly. Alexis felt her heart beating out of control. Erebus was watching her and if she didn’t let Brian mark her, he would kill someone in her family. This man was a monster. All of this was just to hurt Aken. What choice did she have here? She had to protect her family.

Of course, Erebus didn’t care if Brian took her as his mate because of the curse he put on her. He knows soon Brian won’t be able to touch her anyways. What he didn’t know was that she would be purifying the curse before it took effect.

“I need to find Aken,” Terra finally said.

“You know how to find him?” Alexis asked as she watched Terra shrug her shoulders shaking her head.

“No, but I know he is in the demon realm.” Terra looked at Alexis and pursed her lips together. “I’ll try to find him before… but do what you must. Protect your family. Maybe there is a way to reverse a mark. But we can’t reverse death. Well, a necromancer can but it’s not the same.” She shook her head. “I’ll do my best.”

Alexis watched as the girl flashed away, leaving her alone with Brian and Micah. They were all quiet as they stood there letting their brains process the moment.

“What do we do now?” Brian asked in almost a whisper.

“Do you guys even have a choice?” Micah rubbed his forehead as a scowl formed over his lips.

Alexis closed her eyes and bit her bottom l*p. Even if Aken showed up what could it change? Unless he found Erebus and killed him before tonight, there was no other option. She would have to let Brian mark her as his mate and have to hope there was a way to reverse it. She needed to talk with Brian and what this would mean. The trickling ramifications from the acceptance k**s.

“We need to find our parents.” Brian squeezed Alexis’ shoulder. “We have a lot to discuss before tonight.”