Chapter Eight
Eira sat in the passenger seat of Jett’s SUV staring blankly out the window. She felt horrible leaving Adonis alone. Her stomach bubbled with nausea at the thought of losing him forever. She didn’t know how he would hold up in a fight against his brother. Not to say Adonis was incapable of taking care of himself because he was strong, both inside and out. Only Asher had an evil glint in his eye that she knew wouldn’t go away until Adonis was out of the picture for good. She couldn’t lose him. She wouldn’t lose him. “Jett you have to take me back.”
He scoffed. “Yeah, cause that’s gonna happen.”
Eira pinched his arm. “Turn this car around right now and take me back!”
“Ouch!” Jett rubbed his skin. “Hurting me is not going to change my mind. Adonis doesn’t want you there and frankly I don’t think you should be there either. So, sit back and relax ‘cause you’re not going anywhere but home.”
Eira defiantly folded her arms over her chest. Oh, she was going back to the hotel whether Adonis and Jett wanted her to or not. She was going to sneak away the first chance she got. Neither of them was the boss of her. She could come and go as she pleased. There was no way she was going to be held prisoner in her own home. Especially not by the jack ass sitting next to her.
Dinner was uneventful, except for the amount of food Jett stuffed in his face. Eira didn’t know where he put it all. It made her sick to her stomach watching him. She hadn’t been hungry at all. She was too worried about Adonis. She didn’t know what he was doing or even if he was okay. She excused herself from the table while her father and Jett were having dessert. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed Adonis’ number. It rang a few times and he didn’t answer. She hung up and dialed again. It rang several more times and still no answer. Hurrying back to the kitchen she shoved the phone in Jett’s face just as he was finishing off his second piece of apple pie. “He’s not answering!”
He swallowed the food still in his mouth and tossed back the rest of the water in the cup sitting in front of him. “Who isn’t answering?”
“Adonis. I called him twice and he’s not picking up his phone.”
“Would you relax. He’s a grown man. He is perfectly capable of taking care of himself.”
“You may not be worried about him, but I am. I’m going to go and check on him.”
Jett grabbed her by the arm. “Oh no you’re not. You are going to stay right here where I can keep a close eye on you.”
“You can’t keep me here against my will.”
“Oh no, watch me.”
“What are you going to do? Tie me up?”
“If I have to, yes.”
Martin interjected, pulling the two of them apart. “I think Jett is right. What good would it do to go back there and wind up getting hurt in the process. Why don’t I make you some tea and then you can go upstairs to rest.”
“I can’t rest Daddy, not until I know if Adonis is okay.”
“Look, let your father make you the tea and go take a bath or something. Go relax and I’ll keep trying him. As soon as I get in touch with him I’ll bring you the phone, okay?”
“Fine.” Eira stomped up the stairs to the bathroom and slammed the door behind her. She turned the faucet on, allowing the steam to fill the room and seep under the door. She wasn’t going to take a shower, she was going to go check on Adonis like she said she would.
She opened the bathroom window and climbed down the trellis, cutting her hands on the thorny vines as she descended. When she reached the bottom, she wiped the blood spots on her jeans and ran to the garage. She grabbed a coat and the keys to her snowmobile and took off. Her heart beat faster and faster the closer she got to the resort. Every so often she stopped and tried Adonis again, but he never picked up the phone or answered her text messages. What if he were dead and no one knew because he wanted to take care of this situation by himself. Shit. She should have listened to her gut and stayed with him no matter what he wanted.
Ten minutes from the hotel the snowmobile began to sputter and then stopped altogether. “No, no, no!” Eira jumped off the seat and kicked the useless machine. The only thing left to do was walk the rest of the way. She pulled the hood of her jacket over her head and crossed her arms over her chest to try and keep in as much body heat as she could. She didn’t have the proper clothes on to hike a few blocks let alone the couple of miles she had to trek to get to the resort.
A tree branch snapped in the distance and she stilled, listening to where the sound came from exactly. Another branch snapped and she could tell the noise was coming from behind her and getting closer with each passing second. Something was following her, no stalking her. It could be just a bear looking for food. No, bears didn’t stalk humans. She reached for her pistol, but it was gone. Of course it was because she forgot to grab it before she left. At least if she’d had it she could fire a shot or two in the air and scare off whatever was causing the fear to rise up in her throat.
A low growl filled the night air, echoing through the trees and sent a wave of uneasiness through her body. That was no bear. Being raised around wilderness all her life, her father took her hunting and fishing and camping. She was plenty experienced with the wildlife in the area and she knew for a fact that sound did not come from any local animal she’d heard before. She began walking at a faster pace, tripping as she tried to escape the terror that was gaining on her. Panicking, she heaved in a few lungfuls of cold air, her chest beginning to constrict with every breath she took.
Lights. She could see the lights in front of the hotel. Not too far now. All she had to do was run a little faster and not fall. Don’t fall Eira, don’t you dare fall like those airheads in the movies. She was now close enough to see someone standing in front of the hotel, so she screamed. Well, she tried to anyway because as soon as she opened her mouth everything went black.
She didn’t know how long she was out, but when Eira opened her eyes she was being bounced around over someone’s shoulder and was freezing. Her coat had been removed, leaving her with a thin sweater not suitable to keep her warm in the slightest of breezes. Her hand went to the back of her head and she winced. A large bump had formed, making her whole head ache. She rubbed the fuzziness from her eyes and blinked several times before her surroundings came into focus.
The trees seemed to whizz by despite the slow and calculated movements of the person carrying her. She fought to stay awake, but her head hurt way too much. Her lids were heavy as dizziness took over her senses and she had no choice other than to close her eyes again. She could still hear what was going around her, although that was telling her nothing as to where she was. The only sounds that made it to her ears were the bare swaying branches of the trees and the crunching of more branches under her captor’s feet.
She was cold and shivering, her fingers numb from the extreme conditions of the winter’s night. She wondered how long they had been walking and how far away from the hotel they’d gone. She couldn’t scream. She didn’t have enough energy to anything but take small shallow breaths. Finally, she stopped moving and was dropped on the hard ground with no regard to her injuries.
Her hand instinctively went to the back of her head again. Her head was throbbing much worse now that she was sitting upright. When she peered up at the shadowy figure standing before her a violent chill wrecked her body. She instantly recognized him without even seeing his face in its entirety in the darkness. The only light surrounding them was from the full moon that illuminated the large frame of the man, no shifter.
Eira swallowed hard, speaking through chattered teeth. “Why are you doing this?”
Asher practically growled his response. “Because you’re going to be mine before my brother makes his mark on you. By the time he gets here, and he will come for you, it will too late. You’ll already be my mate and there will be nothing he can do to change that. Then, while he’s distracted with heartbreak and despair, I’ll use that opportunity to eradicate him from our lives and we can go back home to Africa and rule over our glorious Kingdom.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you!”
Asher knelt by her side, grabbing her chin in his hand and squeezed. He pulled her face close to his and roughly licked the side of her face before biting her jaw hard. “Yes you are. You will go wherever I go and do everything I tell you to do without question.”
Eira snapped her head out of his grasp. “You are nothing but a savage animal with no heart. I would rather die before being yours.”
“Don’t tempt me. You are replaceable.”
“Fuck you!”
Asher flashed her an evil grin. “In time my dear, in time.”
“Do you really think Adonis is going to let that happen?”
He stood, slowly pacing back and forth in front of her. “He doesn’t have a choice in the matter. There are three inevitable facts that will happen. One, you will be mate. Two, Adonis will die. And three, I will be King.”
“You don’t deserve to be King. You don’t have your species’ best interest at heart. The only one you care about is yourself.”
He chuckled. “You say that as if it’s a bad thing. I have never been treated with love. I was the outcast, the product of an unwanted union. My mother wanted Adonis, she planned his birth. I was an abomination in her eyes. Just a reminder that my father forced himself upon her. When Adonis’ father found out my father was killed on the spot, but it was already too late to get rid of me. I was born and treated with the lowest respect one can experience in our pride.”
Eira was confused. That was not the story Adonis had told her. “I don’t understand. Adonis was the one who was banished from his only home when he was too young to take care of himself. His parents didn’t want him because he was so different from the rest of you.”
Asher laughed. “Are you kidding me? He was put on a pedestal because of his oddity. Not only was he next in line for the throne, but he was praised for something he had no control over. He didn’t have to prove his worth every single day to those who had no intention of accepting him. No, he was already the King in everyone’s eyes.”
“Then why would he think he wasn’t loved and wanted.”
He shook his head, clearly annoyed by her. “Boy, I don’t know if I want such a dense mate. He believed he wasn’t wanted because that’s exactly what I told him when I drooped his ass out here. I went back home and told everyone that he’d been killed by rogue lion so I would be next in line. But, not everything worked out as I had planned. Adonis’ father refused to acknowledge me as part of the family and announced I would never take his place. So, I had to kill him and show the pride the extent of my strength.”
“You aren’t even a savage, you’re just plain old diabolical. You have no heart, no soul.”
“Well, you can blame my wonderful parents and my hateful species for that. They made me into the thing I am today. I didn’t get this way on my own.”
“Yes you did. Adonis had no one and thought he was unloved by everyone, yet he persevered and has a heart so full of love.” She sighed feeling genuinely sorry for Asher for all that he had to endure growing up. She couldn’t imagine being rejected by her parents and never sharing a happy moment with the only ones who were supposed to love you unconditionally. “It’s not too late for you Asher. Just explain everything to Adonis. I’m sure he’ll understand.”
“He’ll never listen to me. His heart is filled with just as much hate as mine is. He’ll never understand why I did what I did. It’s too late.”