After supper, Ares ordered his men to stay in the front cabin and stay watch during the night. He and I would share the guesthouse behind the main house.

Lucas darted a glance between his leader and me. He looked like he wanted to say something, but then he clenched his jaw and headed toward the cabin.

“There are plenty of cabins around,” I said, despite Ares’ foul mood. “I’ll take the pink one in the middle. Alone.”

“So you can sneak out in the middle of night?” he asked. “Is that your other escape plan?”

“No!” I said. “How could I slip through your fingers with your men watching me like hawks?” I looked up at him through my lashes. “I just want some privacy, please. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”

“Batting your eyes at me won’t achieve a damn thing,” he said. “Many women did that much more skillfully than you and still failed to impress me. And yes, it’s too much to ask after you pulled that stunt earlier.”

“I was hungry and exhausted and scared,” I said. “I wasn’t exactly thinking straight.”

“Hungry and exhausted, sure,” he snorted, “but scared? Playing damsel-in-distress won’t work either. If you’re looking for sympathy, start looking somewhere else.”

He stalked toward the white house in the back, and I trailed after him reluctantly. As soon as I entered the house, I realized it was smaller inside than it looked from outside. It had only one bedchamber.

I glanced at cushions on the sitting room. “I’ll crash here.”

“No, you’ll sleep in the bedroom, as will I,” he said.

I jumped. “Are you kidding me? What do you take me for?”

He gave me a darkly amused look. “What do you think I take you for?”

“I’m not sleeping with you!”

“You don’t have much experience with men, do you?”

“That’s not your concern,” I hissed. “And for your information, you have no idea of the rich, vast experiences I have. I ride men like—”

“Like what?” he asked in genuine curiosity.

“That’s also my business,” I said haughtily. “I’m just not riding you. Not interested at all.”

“You lie easily about everything else,” he said. “But when it comes to the affairs of men and women, you’re a bad liar.” He dragged a large cushion onto the bedroom. “You can take the bed, and I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“Why do we have to share a room?”

“You think I’ll give you another chance to sneak away after I spent four months finding you?” At my outrageous look, he added, “You haven’t earned my trust. Other kidnappers would tie you with ropes or chain you, but I wouldn’t want to do that. So suck it up.”

I kicked my boots off a bit too forcefully and fell onto the bed without any grace.

“Good night,” I said. “Try not to molest me.”

There was no need to remind him of that. If he tried to do something to me while I slept, he would only send himself to a painful death.

“You have no discipline, Freyja,” he said, starting to unload his weapons and carefully lay them beside the cushion, which stayed between my bed and the door. “But you’ll learn. Discipline is basic for a soldier.”

“I’m not a soldier,” I said, “and definitely not yours.”

“You are now,” he said. “You’re a member of my team, so act like one. First, you’ll need to earn back our trust and respect.”

“That’s ridiculous,” I said. “When did I agree to be recruited? And I don’t want your trust or whatever. I don’t even care if you like me or not.”

“That’s a bad attitude, Freyja,” he said. “That attitude will get you nowhere. For your own benefit, think smarter and get your act together. The sooner you lead me to the First Witch, the quicker you’ll get what you want.”

I huffed, then suddenly realized that Ares had found a way to irk me and have fun with it.

“I owe you nothing,” I said.

He shrugged. “You can argue about it all night if you want, but it won’t change a thing. I caught you, so you’re at my mercy. You should think hard about how to make amends after what you did today. I didn't blame you for insisting on a bath in the middle of nowhere and attracting the assassin army. If any of my men had died because of your impulsiveness and ruthlessness, their blood would’ve been on your hands. I haven’t decided what to do with you, but you should know every action has a consequence, as I’ve warned you.”

I was too tired to worry about that at the moment. I wouldn’t care if he beat me to death now. Exhaustion could do that to people. I bit my bottom lip. “What if I never find her?”

“Oh, Freyja, you will,” he said. “You don’t want to be stuck with me forever, or do you, my darling Freyja? Though I’m not an immortal, my lifespan can reach thousands of years. I can be really patient, but can you? Do you want to waste your shining youth on me while I drag you around on the road all the time? You won’t always have a warm bed and a full belly. And danger will look you in your pretty face at every turn. One of my half-brothers will always send more bounty hunters my way, and you’re in my close company.” He slanted a glance at me with satisfaction at my sour look. “And that should be your motivation.”

He pried off his wrist plates and flexed his arms; they were large and rippled with hard muscles. He started removing the sculpted armor that fit his body like a second skin.

As the armor came off and dropped to the ground, the prince was bare to the narrow waist.

The lamp light gave his massive shoulders an enticing, even mystery finish. It would be a nice spot to lay my head. I blinked out of my trance, but I was still staring at his hard chest. My awed gaze involuntarily dipped to his firm stomach and lower.

I could see a trail of dark hair, alluring and erotic and all male, disappearing into his undergarments. It left much to the imagination. His powerful legs were all muscle, too. Without doubt, it would be solid to sit on. At the thought, every cell in me swirled alive.

The room seemed too small now to hold both the huge Dragonian prince and me.

I inhaled for air. “Prince Darken,” I said, “what do you think you’re doing?”

Ares suddenly registered my existence in the corner and raised an eyebrow. “Getting ready for bed,” he said, gesturing at my clothes that covered every inch of me. “You should do the same. It’s late.”

“You realize that you’re half-naked?” I asked.

“I like to sleep completely naked.”

An alarm bell went off in my head. I had never seen a naked man before. This would be terrible. “You can’t do that!” I cried. 

“Why?” He looked confused. “Is there a rule against sleeping nude?”

I bit my lip before I explained. “You realize that you’re a male and I’m a female?”

“Yeah, so?”

I waved a hand exasperatedly. “There’re social rules. Ever heard of the concept of propriety?”

He folded his arms across his chest. My gaze glued to his torso and my heart pounded.

“Do explain,” he said, as if he had the entire night to listen.

“When a man and a woman who aren’t involved share a room,” I said, and then I was out of words because he started laughing so hard.

This whole time he was just poking fun at me. I couldn’t keep track of when he had changed his demeanor toward me. He’d been a storm not long ago.

His hard exterior melted like frost in the flame.

“I thought you wouldn’t mind,” he said with a smirk, “since you’ve had rich, vast experiences with men. You rode them like what?”

My face burned hot.

“And you were ogling me this whole time,” he continued, a striking grin brightening his face. “Like what you see, Freyja?”

He flirted easily, obviously believing he was entitled to female worship.

“I wasn’t checking you out,” I said coolly.

He arched a brow. “No?”

“I was merely studying the work of art and science.” I gestured at him from head to toe. “There’s room for improvement.” 

He frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“An ordinary eye sees that you have perfect proportions and great strength,” I said with a regretful sigh. “However, I see what no one else can see.”

He looked at me, not convinced, but stopped going nude.

“I am the only one who saw the garden’s magical ward and spotted the flaw of its design,” I said, “so I could pass through the entrance by exploiting its weakness.” That was bullshit, but the prince didn’t know that. “Perfect beings are rare.” I motioned him, preying on his insecurity since I knew no sane person felt completely secure. “For example, you.” I stalked over to him and let my gaze rover over his body as if studying an object. “Your imperfection lies in the length of your arms.”

“What?” he asked incredulously, his eyebrows coming together in displeasure.

“If they’re zero point seventy-nine inches shorter, you’d be the perfect specimen.”

“That’s silly,” he said, but he scrutinized his arms. He lifted them and bent at the elbows to make them slightly shorter.

I smirked. “See what I meant?”

“You know nothing about me, wolf girl,” he growled, not taking my criticism well. 

I returned to my soft, full-sized bed and leaned back lazily, my feet crossed.

“You weren’t merely born of the union of Commander North Darken and an advanced human female,” I purred. “Your father was all about superior gene and evolution. He mated with a strong, blue-blood female human to reproduce you. The moment you were born, you were sent to the lab for further genetic enhancement.”

“How do you know that?” he asked.

I’d learned part of the prince’s origin from the mercenary Dragonian I had killed, and the assassin had learned it from the prince’s half-brother, the third-in-line to the throne.

Something dangerous flashed through his eyes and there was no amusement, playfulness, or smugness in them anymore. They were hard, cold, and dark.

He lurched at me. He was coming to grab my throat and lift me up for a torture-style interrogation, and then kill me for knowing too much.

I’d abandoned caution and guile. I’d gone straight to being overly bold and arrogant because of the influence of the rising heat in the room, and because I didn’t like being challenged. His smoldering hot torso occupied my mind, his pure male scent filled my nostrils, and the electric charge between us diminished my reasoning ability.

As I realized my mistake, the thrill still buzzed in my blood like potent drugs.

I removed my feet from the panel and bolted up to perch on the edge of the bed. When he came to kill me, I would entice him to do so with his bare hands.

“Call it my innate light, or animal instinct, or whatever you want to name it,” I said casually, trying to diffuse the tension. “Isn’t that’s why the Oracle sent you to me so I can find you the witch?”

My hand pulled off my gloves in a bored fashion, so he wouldn’t suspect a thing.

Spotting fear and dark determination in my eyes, Ares gathered himself and stepped back.

The deadly predator in his eyes was gone. “So your animal instinct smelled my secret genetic receipt,” he said. “I see.”

“I’m not the only freak here,” I said. 

He suddenly laughed. “Do you know in my long mortal life, no one has dared to say that to my face? You’re feral.”

I bared my teeth. “And who dares to tame me?”

He shook his head, still laughing.

The moment of danger passed, and I rolled back onto bed.

Ares lay down on his cushion, his hands behind his head.

At least, he kept his undergarment on.

The lamp automatically flickered off.

“I never think of you as a freak, Freyja,” Ares said, sprawling on the floor and basked in the moonlight that shone through the high window. “But who are you really?”

“Don’t you know it already?” I said and had to remind myself not to taunt him. Sometimes I couldn’t help it. His mere presence made me react like no other. “Didn’t the Oracle tell you?”

“The Oracle sent me to you instead of the witch,” he said. “I still can’t figure out why, but I will. Earlier on, the druid spoke to you in a secret tongue that sounded like an ancient, angelic language.”

My heart raced erratically. He was testing me, and I didn’t want him to connect me to the Angels.

“It’s the ancient Earth tongue,” I said.

“Then I should have understood it.”

“Aren’t you a bit too cocky?”

“Then how could you speak it? You’re young.”

“I have an old soul,” I lied. “I understand all things in nature. The ancient Earth tongue is the language of the elementals, so naturally people like you are deaf to it.”

He snorted, ignoring the insult. His frustration was tangible. The prince was used to getting what he wanted. With me, he kept hitting on the walls.

But he didn’t rebut me, which meant he bought it. Anyway, who could understand the goddess’s language? It was out of my depth, too, but my opponent didn’t know it.

His lack of knowledge was my weapon.

“I’ll get to the bottom of this,” he grated.

“Sure you will,” I said.

Why were we still arguing? Why weren’t we sleeping? I was worn-out, and he had battle wounds. The serum he’d been injected with earlier had sped up the healing, but his body still needed to rest for it to work properly. He should have passed out the moment his head hit the pillow.

Maybe he was also too aroused to sleep.

Stupid girl, my logic said.

This was nothing new for the Dragonian prince. He never lacked female companions. But for me, this was the first time I shared a room with anyone—and not just anyone, but a red-blooded male who had an unholy hot body.

At that thought, his male scent drifted toward me, stimulating and calming me at the same time. I inhaled involuntarily.

“You have magic, too, don’t you, Freyja?” Ares broke the silence.

I curled to my side and glanced down at him, only to find he looked at me accusingly. His smooth, hard chest rose and fell in rhythm. I forced myself to tear my gaze away, so I wouldn’t be caught staring at his magnificent bare torso.

“What’s my magic then?” I asked.

“You could pass the druid’s ward while no one else could.”

“That doesn’t need magic to do it.”

“How so?” he asked.

He was more ignorant than me when it came to magic. But who wasn’t? The only magical beings had built walls around their territory, not giving the mortals any opportunity to learn about them or their earth power.

I’d found Ares’ weak spot, and I had no problem exploiting it.

“I’m the opposite of magic. I’m immune,” I said. Another lie. Now I was worried that I might be a pathological liar.

“Opposite of magic?” he retorted. “Is that even a correct term? There’s no such thing as immune. Either you’re magical or you’re not. There’s no grey ground.”

What he said didn’t make sense either. It was like a blind man and a blind woman standing atop a cliff and arguing about what the ocean looked like.

“If you’re such an expert on magic,” I said, “why don’t you enlighten me instead of asking me questions?”

“You might have another type of magic that you aren’t aware of,” he said. 

My heart skipped a beat. “What type?”

“For starters, you can communicate with animals.”

“As I said before, that doesn’t require magic,” I said, letting impatience sink into my tone. “Animals don’t have magic, but they’re intuitive. If you truly listen to them, you’ll hear them.”

“I think you’re making this up,” he said, but I knew he wasn’t sure about that. While he tried to fish out information, he also baited me in order to filter whatever I said.

“If you don’t believe me,” I said exasperatedly, “why do you keep throwing questions at me?”

“To catch your lies.”

“Spare me,” I said. “I’m going to sleep.”

I squinted my eyes tight, but sleep didn’t come. My mind was still too busy despite my fatigue. I tossed and turned for a while, then turned back to eyeing the massive form on the floor.

How would it feel if I traced my fingers from his chest to the hard planes of his stomach, and then went further down ….

He’ll scream in agony instead of pleasure, my reason spelled it out for me, and then he’ll die.

The room sank into sudden darkness as the moon sank into the clouds.

When did I become an unrealistic fool? I shook my head. Picturing touching him?

Ares chuckled in the dark. “Need some help with your asleep?”

“I can sleep well on my own,” I said. After a moment of silence, I asked, “What is a druid?”

“The great Freyja admits there’s something she doesn’t know?”

“I think you don’t know much about Merlin either. You just pretend you know him well.”

“If I tell you,” he said, “you’ll share a secret with me.”

“Certainly.”

“I mean it, a secret.”

“Fine. Why don’t you start?”

“The druid is all things: a wizard, sorcerer, prophet, priest of nature, keeper of arcane knowledge. He’s the first of his kind. It’s said that many of his rank will come after him.”

“Did he tell you all this?”

“No, my father told me. My father used to seek the druid’s council. He still does. It was the druid who took my father to see the Oracle. The Oracle then told my father to find the Sky Power. The Fey Empress was still a princess when her emperor father sold her to be the Angel King’s bride. But then, the Angel King’s brother, the High Prince of All Angels, had his eyes on the Fey Princess and claimed her for his mate. It turned out he was the Sky Power. Anyway, it’s a long, bloody history.”

My heart pumped hard and ached.

Unbeknownst to all except those who hunted me, the Angel King was my biological father. My mother was one of the courtiers sent to spy on King Agro and to distract him, so he wouldn’t fix his eyes on the Fey Princess. Because of those hundreds of courtiers, the Fey Princess was spared from the worst fate of mating with the Angel King, so she owed all of her courtiers a life debt.

In the final battle, the Empress burned King Agro’s wings; and her consort—my uncle—cut off my father’s head. But King Agro still left something of himself behind—me. Though I was never the product of love, my mother loved me and gave up her life to protect me.

“The druid stood by my father when he was leading the rebels against the Angels,” Ares continued. “Without my father’s force, the Twilight Realm of Mysth would have fallen and most Fey would have been slaughtered. Yet the earthlings only remembered that the Fey Empress and her Angel consort used their combined powers to defeat the Angel Reapers, but forgot the blood we shed to bring peace to Earth.” He sent me a bitter look, and I recalled our earlier debate about the war.

Despite his accusing look, I was surprised that Prince Darken would tell me all this, as if he almost trusted me. 

“No one even mentioned the druid,” I said. “And fewer knew about him. Do you know his origin?”

“My father speculated that he was born of an alien god and a mortal woman.”

“I’ll ask him tomorrow,” I said.

“Don’t be stupid,” he said. “You can’t ask the formidable druid this kind of thing. Even my father wouldn’t breach the topic.”

“I don’t fear him, and he doesn’t seem that formidable to me.”

“You need to learn to control your tongue for your own good, Freyja,” he said. “But do not worry. Since I’ve taken you under my wing, I’ll teach you about honor and discipline. Perhaps some fighting skills. One day, you’ll make a fine warrior.”

He really thought he employed me, and now he wanted to tame me so I could serve him better. I sneered at his single-minded determination.

“Now it’s your turn,” the Dragonian prince said.

“My turn for what?”

“You turn to share a secret for the knowledge I offered.”

“But the knowledge isn’t worth much. I could get it from anyone.”

“Not from anyone. I told you the insider story. Now fulfill your promise to me.”

“Fine.” I sighed. If I didn’t give up something, he wouldn’t let me sleep. “I killed an Angel sentinel when I was twelve.” 

I wouldn’t tell him that I’d also accumulated angelic data when I’d killed that Angel.

“I don’t think so,” he said after a moment of silence. “Even I have a hard time to take down a warrior Angel alone, and I’m one of the best Dragonian warriors.”

The best Dragonian warrior or not, I can take you down with a single touch, I thought. That was what I did to that Angel. The hunters hadn’t known my lethal touch back then.

“Do I look like a bragging type to you?” I said.

“You do,” he said.

I described the Angel’s physique, especially his massive, black wings. No one could do that until she was up close to the Angel. And none of the Angels would allow any other races to get that close to them. Earthlings didn’t get to perform an autopsy on an Angel either. When an Angel died, he turned to ashes within a couple of hours. “You have his weapon. One of the angelic daggers you took from me belonged to him. You can find an expert to check its authenticity. By the way, when are you going to return my daggers to me?”

“When I can trust you,” he said. “When you promise you won’t try to run away. How did you kill him? Did you set a vicious trap first?”

I could see he thought I was only good at ensnaring people.

“I’m not trading two secrets for common knowledge about the druid,” I said.

“Then ask me another question.”

“Perhaps another time,” I said. “There’s nothing more I want to know at the moment. And now I want my sleep.”

I could hear him grinding his teeth, but I wasn’t worried. My wolves had sharper fangs.

The silence stretched.

Ares was relatively amiable at the moment, but I held no illusions that he had forgiven my sin. I’d seen how he’d cut down his enemies mercilessly. I’d witnessed his fit of rage toward his own man.

He’d promised my actions would have consequences. Ventus had warned me that no one dared to offend the Dragonian prince in the slightest degree, but I’d flipped him off in front of his team.

According to him, he had something in mind already. He was just too spent to punish me tonight. Would he make me kneel half-naked and whip me tomorrow? That was the most common punishment in the military and he thought I was his soldier.

I wasn’t going to find out. However, I needed to see the druid before I tried to escape again, for I might never have another chance.

The night grew deeper as the moon moved further away.

Slowly, I let my breathing sound even and deep and listened to Ares breathing. He seemed dead to the world. He’d waited until he was sure that I’d fallen asleep.

I kept the same rhythm for a while, then sighed and turned to sleep on my side. I murmured a string of intelligible words to test him. Ares started snoring.

I quietly sat up, smiling to myself, and slid out of the bed. I bent to pick up my boots. My socks were inside, but I wouldn’t bother to put them on right now.

The rest of the men might be patrolling nearby, but I would get past them.

I stared down at the splendid body that occupied most of the floor. The formidable prince looked younger and tender in his sleep.

Sweet dreams, dark prince, I purred silently and stepped across his torso, but found I couldn’t move my other foot.

A hand grabbed my ankle.

A bare hand on my bare ankle! My breath stuck in my throat and my blood turned ice. I only wanted to get away from him. I hadn’t wanted to kill him. His pretense at sleep had brought his own death.

My heart ached as I waited for the inevitable—Ares would scream in pain before blowing out his last ragged breath. His skin would turn gray and crack like a clay pot.

I closed my eyes, trying to tell myself it wasn’t by my hand but by fate that he fell. Still, my heart felt as if it had been seared by a hot blade, and I hadn’t expected such intense emotion.

Maybe it was for the best. I swallowed. Short-term pain for long-term gain. It wouldn’t end well between Ares and me anyway. I wouldn’t find the witch for him. I would only lead him to the Twilight Realm and let the Fey Empress and her powerful Angel consort get rid of him. In the meantime, if he found out I was a Nephilim, he would dispose of me without a blink. Even as I stood here, he’d already done some damage to me. He’d exposed me by kidnapping me, and the Angel hunters would be on my tail soon, it they weren’t already.

In the end, it was either him or me, and fate had chosen for me to live. So be it. As a warlord, he wasn’t that innocent either. How many people had died by his hand?

While I told myself all these things, my heart kept bleeding, as if a part of me was torn from my inside. Why did I feel this way? Maybe he was indeed my destined mate, as the Oracle had announced. No, I wouldn’t go down that path. That wasn’t how I dealt with loss and pain.

A few seconds passed like eternity, but Ares didn’t cry out in excruciating pain. He gave my ankle a tug, and I stumbled and fell on top of him.

“Where do you think you’re going, Freyja?” he asked.

My heart bounced in joy. I didn’t kill him!

“How?” I stared down at him, our faces were inches apart, and his eyes were bright like the stars that held wonders.

“Are you amazed that I caught you?” he asked, his hot gaze roving over my face. I suddenly realized that he was always hungry for me, but only in the deep of the night when we were alone, was he unguarded, and his raw emotion surfaced.

He reached for my face, his thumb moving across my cheek.

He could touch me.

My heart drummed in rhythm with his pounding one.

Prince Ares Darken, the Dragonian heir, was the first living being immune to my death touch.

“I was only going to bathroom,” I said. “I was trying not to wake you up.”

“How considerate,” he said. “Fully dressed and holding your boots?”

As he cupped my cheeks, another wave of electric current slithered up my spine. I arched my back and parted my lips at the mesmerizing pleasure.

The prince’s eyes turned molten gold.

My curled fingers flattened and I touched his face. His skin was hot against my cool hand; his stubble pricked against the heel of my palm. My fingers trembled. I hadn’t known a touch could be like this. I felt the pulse of the living instead of bleak death.

When I had laid my hand on my assaulters, I’d felt only their shivers, their fear, and their darkness. As their life forces slipped through my fingers, their knowledge and truth also passed onto me. Their knowledge could be useful, but I had never enjoyed learning their truth.

It was never pleasant to kill, even in self-defense. 

I dropped my boots and ran my fingers through his hair.

“What are you doing, Freyja?” he asked softly.

“I’ve never … Uh, I’m testing the strength of your hair.” I grabbed a handful of his hair, twisted it, and pulled it back with a mild force.

He breathed hard. He wanted my touch. He was hungry for it. The thick, heated emotion in his hooded eyes revealed how he felt.

I traced his eyebrow, then the other, then the shape of his straight, strong nose, his firm cheeks, and then the line of his soft, sensual lips, like a blind person who wanted to remember everything she touched.

When my hand was about to move away from his mouth, he grabbed it, pressing it on his mouth. His warm lips brushed across my palm, the tip of his tongue sending an electric fire into my core, and then another kind of fire burst between my thighs.

I gasped and threw my head back. My body clung to his. He was so warm and solid.

Ares’ tiger-golden eyes burned brighter, yet lust stormed in them like dark midnight.

For a moment, our mingled breath was all I heard in the quiet night; his pure male scent filled my nostrils and I drank it in.

“Freyja.” His whisper sounded like a mating call.

“Yes, Ares,” I responded keenly, my body going all soft and feminine, yet the fire of frenzy licked me inside out.

My touch became the fire of lust, and I was almost choked with tears at the blessing. Did it mean the curse was lifted off me? Would my touch no longer kill? But then how was I going to protect myself in this violent planet?

Ares had neutralized my death touch. Would it be permanent?

He slithered his hand from under my shirt, his fingers tracing down my spine.

I had never felt this good. As I moaned, his hand moved up to cup my breast and squeeze it gently. His thumb and forefinger kneaded my taut nipple.

“Touch my every inch,” I said breathlessly.

“I can’t believe you’re so soft,” he whispered, lust lacing in his voice.

“And you’re so hard.”

“I’m supposed to be hard.” He pulled me down toward him, his mouth slanting over me.

Our lips locked. I’d never been kissed, but something in my nature knew what to do.

Fire seared us both, leaving no gentleness, just fierce hunger.

Ares plunged his tongue into my mouth and thrust at my hard palate. Pleasure stoked higher and higher at his every stroke. My tongue caught his in a mating dance.

I never thought desire could be such a tangible thing. It was fire. It was ice. It was the wind in my blood and clouds in my mind. It was flame traveling under the water.

With a groan, the prince pounced, and the next second, I was on my stomach, his weight delicious on top of me. His large, powerful hand came around from beneath and cupped my breast, massaging and kneading it.

“I’ll soon have your breast in my mouth,” he whispered in my ear, his voice hoarse and husky yet unbelievably sexy. “I want to touch you everywhere and I don’t even know where to begin.” His lips made the first move as they traced from my earlobe to my neck. I moaned with desire as he kissed along the length of my neck.

I had no idea one could have that many pleasure spots on a neck.

And just like that, I was in the grip of a mating frenzy.

I bucked my ass toward him. His hardness pressing against the curve of my buttocks was most welcoming. I had never wanted anyone, but I wanted this male. I wanted every inch of him. Earth, I would let him do anything to me.

I swayed and thrust my ass toward his erection again, offering myself without reservation.

Mate me.

An animalistic sound rumbled from his chest, arousing me more.

Ares shifted his position and lifted his torso, his elbow supporting some of his weight.

His hand left my breast and slid to my heated channel between my thighs. His fingers rubbed my sex back and forth before prying open my folds.

“Yes, Ares, it feels good,” I moaned in satisfaction. I was ravenous. I needed to be touched. I never knew I would need the touch of a man this much.

“You’re so wet, peach,” he slurred and glided his long, large finger into my pussy as I lifted my hips to give him more room to play with.

His finger thrust slowly in me at first as if to savor. In and out and in with a smooth rhythm. He inserted a second finger, thrusting urgently.

Every single cell in my body came alive. I was no longer death. It was the most incredible feeling in the world—alive and free like the flowing colors, howling wind, and unstoppable wildfire. 

“So tight and hot,” he murmured in a voice that was charged with lust.

He grounded his crotch on me, his erection huge and hard, and I writhed beneath him.

“Take me,” I said, “however you want. Please.”

My body was starving. Every inch of my skin screamed for this male’s feral touch and wanted him to brand me. 

My hand stretched backwards and got into his undergarment. He gasped and let out a string of ancient Dragonian words as my palm moved across his curly pubic hair. Pureblood Dragonians were hairless, but Ares was a half-blood. He had a lot of hair. His physique was that of an advanced human, but he was bigger and much more powerful than humans.

Strength was etched on his every muscle, and my touch learned it all.

I wanted to explore him everywhere. I wanted to feel his strong heartbeat pounding against my palm again. Hearts stopped at my touch, but his only beat harder.

I was losing patience. I had been yearning for this for years.

My fingertips touched the base of his shaft, and it jerked forward. My hand curved around his length. Its size and hardness were both impressive. My hand could hold only half of it. I glided my hand up and down his cock.

The prince groaned, his fingers thrusting faster and harder inside me.

I panted against the pillow and he panted on top of me.

“Fuck me,” I moaned breathlessly. “Fuck me now.”

This could be my only time to be intimate with a man.

“You asked for it,” he said roughly. With one hand on my ass, Ares flipped me onto my back. In an instant, he was above me. His knees urged my legs open, and I obliged enthusiastically.

He pulled my pants down to my knees and I kicked one side off my leg.

Thick lust distorted his handsome, powerful face, making it almost beastly. His eyes were the dark fire in the storm. Earth! I was aroused beyond measure.

I arched my back and propelled my hips toward him with my bare, moist sex.

A guttural sound rumbled deeply in his chest. He tore his briefs apart and his cock sprang free. It was large and silky smooth—the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

He gripped his cock with one hand and pumped it before pressing it against my entrance.

I sighed with pleasure, anticipating the feel of him inside me.

His cock brushed open my folds and pushed forward along my narrow passage, sending sparks of wildfire to my every fiber. 

Pleasure I had never experienced rocked me senseless.

I cried for him to give me more. I demanded more. Mate me. Fuck me. I was in a heated frenzy. I would not care what would happen to us tomorrow or if the world should shatter to pieces. I wouldn’t care if the universe collapsed and the stars rained down upon us.

Right now, all I wanted was his big dick inside me, fucking me into oblivion.

He thrust into me explosively, but he didn’t drive home. He prolonged the sensation torturously, driving in inch by inch in slow succession.

I gasped at our shallow joining.

The pleasure was so intense that it numbed me for a second.

I wanted all of his length. Every inch. I wanted it completely embedded in me, filling me, so there would be no empty ache inside. I had lived with hollowness for too long.

After today, I would no longer be the barren land where no one could sow and plant.

In my uncontrollable lust, I spoke.

Ares halted his advance and stilled on top of me, his muscles taut like steel as he restrained from trembling. 

I widened my half-closed eyes, realizing that I had uttered in ancient angelic tongue. The musical sound flowed out of me, and now they would undo me.

If Ares knew I had Angel blood, he would snap my neck while he was inside me. That was how much the Dragonians hated Angels. They hated King Agro more than anyone and anything. My biological father slaughtered two-thirds of Dragonian populations during his rule of terror on Earth.

The Dragonians even hated the Fallen Angels led by High Prince Seth, their one-time ally. The Dragonian royals especially hated him. Every earthling knew Commander North Darken had desired the Fey Empress ever since he’d laid eyes on her when she’d ridden outside the immortal realm. He thought she would choose him after their combined force defeated King Agro and his Reaper army, but the Empress mated with the Angel High Prince instead.

The rumors said that the commander still pined for Earth’s beauty, but the High Prince of All Angels wouldn’t have it. As soon as the Angels were no longer a threat to the Fey, the Fey Empress put up their magical walls again to separate themselves from the mortals.

I became motionless as well, no matter how much I wanted to thrust my hips toward him and take all of his length in me. I was now at his mercy. If he chose to kill me, I couldn’t stop him. My body was no longer a weapon toward him.

Panic rose within me, yet waves and currents of pleasure kept washing over me and made me shudder. 

I had lost control. I was so thirsty in the desert that I wouldn’t mind losing my life for a patch of water.

I raised my head and stared at our locked flesh before peeking into his eyes. The hunger in them was like the force of volcano, yet he was trying to smother it. It was foolish to even try. And I wouldn’t allow him. I wanted the lava spewing spectacularly into the sky. I wanted the fire burning into eternity instead of ashes and smoke.

I drove my hips up to take all of his length in, but the prince pressed his large hand down on my flat belly. He was still trembling, yet he restrained himself from invading in me further.

Why? What was stopping him?

Anger wheeled in his eyes, as strong as his lust.

The prince met my gaze, a pained look twisting his face. The pain in his eyes became agony.

Something struck me.

No, Earth, no! I thought he was immune.

My touch hadn’t harmed him, but the venom of my body fluids was going to undo him. Now he was going to die on top of me while he was inside me.

“Ares,” I whispered in cold dread.

He stared at me with a resigned, dark look.

His anguish wasn’t physical.

“I can’t,” he said. “I won’t. The Oracle warned me of this.”

I felt a new wave of anxiety surging to my throat. “Warned you of what? Of me?”

“She mentioned tests and trials,” he said in a strained voice, “but I never thought you were the test and trial. I didn’t expect to be so drawn to you like a moth to the flame. I’ve vowed celibacy until I meet the First Witch, my own mate.”

During his emotional struggle, he moved another half an inch inside me.

He wanted me badly. I was the First Witch. But I knew even if I declared who I was, he wouldn’t believe me. He would mock me in anger. I stared up at him and watched as fate laughed aloud.

“I won’t fail my true mate,” he murmured. “Many females before you have tried to tempt me but none succeeded, until you came along. I won’t let you or anyone destroy my future.”

He shuddered. And with a string of profaned cusses, he yanked his cock out of me.

Cold emptiness immediately closed in and enveloped me.

“I’m sorry, Freyja,” he said, his voice hardening, more to himself than to me. “Even though we both want this, I won’t allow myself to lose to lust. Not with you or any other female. Not until I find my witch. She’ll be the only woman for me.”

“I won’t say a thing,” I whimpered pathetically. “She won’t even know.”

“Don’t beg for a fuck,” he said with contempt. “If I keep fucking you, I’ll lose her. I’m not a weak man, but you tempt me beyond measure. The first time I set my eyes on you, I wanted you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone. You made me think of you and want you all the time. If you have to be the test, so be it. I’ll pass the trial. I’ll stay faithful to my future mate, and my joyful union with her will be my reward.”

He rolled off me, grabbed his armor and boots, and walked out of the bedchamber. He stopped at the doorway. I hoped he’d had a change of heart, but the cold words that came out of his mouth made it clear he hadn’t.

“Return to bed,” he said, not bothering to look back at the woman he’d just mercilessly discarded. “And don’t try to escape again. The sooner you find the First Witch for me, the quicker you’ll have your gold and freedom.”

“Fuck your gold,” I said.

I picked up my pants and boots and stormed back to my bed in inconsolable anger.

I curled up in bed. My face burned in shame, yet inside, it was as if someone shoved chucks of ice in me, and the ice burned and bruised worse than fire.

I trembled in rage and humiliation. My only bright spot in this cold darkness was my hatred for Ares and his witch.

Confusion clouded my mind. Wasn’t I the witch?

It didn’t matter. He’d rejected me because he coveted his witch more.

Yet, a hopeless, pathetic part of me still wanted the Dragonian prince, and my body craved his scorching touch. I would pay any price to have his hands on me.

In bitterness, I hoped, for my own sake, my hate for him would be stronger than my unbridled lust.