Maiming: A Reverse Harem Series (To Tame a Shifter Book 3) Read online

  I nod. They accepted me here. They like me. They’re not going to banish me or … hang me… or burn me over something I didn’t do …

  Hours pass.

  Several of them actually.

  Skovence offered us food early this morning and that’s the last time I’ve seen anyone. The morning sunlight that burned so brightly through the window on the east side of the small room has dwindled down into a dusty pink shade. Nightfall threatens the skyline, and I focus all of my attention there as I pace back and forth across the cold brick floor. A numbness has settled into my toes, but I ignore it.

  It can’t be much longer. Surely, this will be over soon.

  Another hour slips by.

  From the other room a commotion stirs and it’s the first noise that’s broken through the silence in so long that I jump from the sound of it.

  “I swear to the goddess, Skovence, if you don’t let us fucking see her I’ll roast your tail over a fire with red peppers and onions like a damn dragon kabob.” Chaos’ voice booms into my little holding cell. A wooden door outside of our barred cell separates us from whoever is in the next room.

  Sinister glances to me. He strides by, holding my gaze the entire time. Casually he opens his own jailcell door. It swings with a sound of metal against metal. Like a good little rule follower, I remain in the center of my holding cell while Sinister walks right up to the door. He peers out through the square glass window.

  “Your shifters came to rescue you, Princess.”

  Asshole.

  “What are they saying?” My arms fold and it takes everything in me to just stay put.

  His eyes narrow into crimson slits as he listens intently.

  “Skovence said they could see you and now Carlin changed his mind and isn’t allowing them to come in. Skovence keeps repeating that it’ll only be a few more hours now.”

  Frustration twirls through me, waking that dark power inside myself. That energy breeds and I have to concentrate not to let the sickening magic fester into something bigger.

  Just a few more hours now, I’m sure of it.

  It’ll be fine. It’ll be fine.

  “Come back,” I whisper on a voice so quiet it barely makes it past my lips.

  Sinister looks back at me. Bright eyes study me for several seconds. His boots scuff against the brick and he swings the door shut carelessly behind him. Then he pulls me against him.

  The scent of cinnamon washes over me as I bury my face into his chest. I hate that he’s here with me in all of this.

  But I’m also so thankful he’s here with me in all of this.

  “It’ll be okay, Arrie.” His accent kisses against my name in a way that flutters past all of the thick tangle of guilt inside me.

  I know Sinister fully believes it’ll be okay. In his mind, if all of this goes wrong, we’ll walk away from it. We’ll run as far away as we can just as we did when I was a mage running from her past and he was a hellhound always by my side.

  That’s not how this is going to play out this time, though. The people here, they’re important to me. So I can’t run away.

  Not this time.

  There are rules here and I have to follow them.

  My fingers fist in his shirt, bringing the warmth of his body closer to mine as the tension in my shoulders lowers. I meld against the hard panes of his chest. His lips press to the side of my messy brown hair, and all I want is to sleep here in his arms. For someone who’s found complete perfection in this village, I’ve lost a lot of sleep since I’ve gotten here.

  It isn’t safe here. I know it isn’t. Something dark and dangerous is swarming this village. And yet I refuse to let that scare me away. I won’t leave until the promise I gave to Chaos is set in whatever ritual he needs to seal a mating bond.

  I want to be their mate more than I want anything else.

  So whatever it is that’s haunting this place, will have to kill me too before I ever walk away.

  “It’s not a very secure prison.” Her voice is calm. Smooth and melodious.

  Sinister’s arms flex tighter around me, but then my gaze collides with hers.

  She’s fearless. She must be to be here.

  “Ellise.” I pull back from Sinister and the mage continues to trace the broken hinge on our jail cell.

  “I heard they imprisoned you, I just didn’t believe it.” Her thin, graying brows lower over her emerald gaze.

  A beat passes and during that settling quiet, Sinister takes a step closer to me.

  “They should be praising you not imprisoning you.” The sheet of long white hair shifts back and forth against her features. “They have no idea what you’re capable of. How much you could improve their world just by existing. And this is how they repay you.” It’s then that her gaze lifts to mine.

  “It’s just a misunderstanding,” I say to her with little conviction.

  She pulls the heavy white fur closer around her delicate shoulders.

  “You know this very thing happened decades ago, before either of you were born. They imprisoned mages by the hundreds. Everyone from peasants to royals. Locked them all up out of fear. Just as they’re doing right now to you. And those mages said the same thing. It’s just a misunderstanding.”

  At the sound of her eerie voice, a chill crawls so slowly down my spine that I openly shudder.

  “You mean when they outlawed mage magic?”

  She nods slowly to me.

  “They slaughtered my family.” Her voice never wavers but the tightness of her throat as she swallows makes me realize how much it hurts her to say it. “People who once adored me, cared for me, loved me, tried to murder me just because of what I am. And now they try to pretend it never happened. They try to wash their history books of the race of people they nearly cleared from existence. That’s what’s happening to you right now, Arlow.” Her temple rests against the metal bars as her sincere eyes hold on mine. “Believe me when I say, they don’t want you here. There’s nowhere on this earth where they won’t turn against you the moment the wind changes.”

  Sinister’s fingers slip into mine, but I don’t feel his reassuring touch. Because I feel her words so much more than I’ll ever feel anything else in my entire life.

  I’ve never related to something someone’s said in all my existence.

  Ellise is right. I’ve never truly been accepted by society. I’ve always hidden a part of me shamefully away.

  “What would you do if you were me?” I take a step closer to her.

  “You’re capable of so much more, Arlow. I hate to see how you shut it away. I’ve seen you train with your friend.” Her gaze lifts to Sinister.

  “You look familiar,” Sinister says to her.

  A pretty smile pulls at her lips, lining her deep green eyes.

  “If I were you, I’d find my tribe. Find your people.”

  In a way, I’ve already started doing that. I never felt comfortable until I met Agatha. Or Sinister. Or Chaos, Rime, and Kain. I feel that way again, with Ellise.

  “Like you, you mean?” I tilt my head at her.

  She nods, another pleasant smile creasing her features.

  Ellise is a drifter, just like I was.

  What if we could be more though?

  “Where will you go after this, Ellise?”

  Her gaze never leaves mine.

  “I’m headed to the Northern Kingdom. It’s my home. I want to return to my home. I was driven out so many years ago. I want to take back what’s mine.” The desperate way she says home hurts my heart.

  I nod. Seconds tic by. I’ve never been to the Attikan Kingdom. I wonder if I could find peace there in the secluded country.

  “Join me, Arlow. You’ve been through so much. You don’t deserve this. You and I deserve so much more.”

  My lips part, and the reply is already half way up my throat.

  Then the door bursts open.

  And the beautiful, mysterious woman before me vanishes from sight.

  Sev
enteen

  Shared Bonds

  “You’re going to let me see her or you won’t have a standing building to call prison anymore.”

  “It’s a holding center, Chaos,” Skovence reminds him.

  “Fuck your holding center.” He jars his big arm away from Skovence and storms right up to the bars of my cell. His brows lift when he sees the crumbled-up ball that used to be the padlock. He pauses when he takes an inventory of my features, my arms and legs. His gaze searches every inch of me. And finds nothing to complain about. I’m cold but I’m fine. “Are you feeding her?” He turns with outrage poised and ready against his lips. Chaos is just dying for a reason to go full dragon on this place.

  “Chaos, I’m fine.”

  “What about our friend? Are you taking care of Sinister too?”

  “Your friend, aye?” Sinister tilts his head at his … friend.

  “Don’t ruin the moment, Sinister.” Chaos never even glances back at the demon at my side.

  “The demon laughed in our faces this morning and told us his kind do not require sustenance,” Skovence tells him.

  Chaos looks from Skovence to Sinister and several times before turning fully to face the demon. The anger in his face is now clouded with concern and confusion. “You don’t eat food?”

  “I’ve been with you for weeks and I haven’t eaten a single meal. How have you not noticed this?”

  “Why? Why wouldn’t you just do it anyway? Food is delicious.”

  “Chaos, I think you came raging in here for a reason.” Rime stands with his arms folded securely over his chest and his gaze is locked on me but he never moves from his rigidly held place near the door. He looks like he’s holding this place up with his calmness. And in a way, he is. When that calm slips, this whole place might come tumbling down.

  The way he watches me makes me feel naked. Exposed. He sees every part of me without even trying.

  “This has gone on for long enough. Either ask her your questions or you’ve missed your chance because she’s not staying here overnight.” Unlike the others, Kain keeps his glare held on Skovence. He doesn’t look to me, he keeps his aggression in place.

  “I can’t question her without Lord Carlin and you know it.”

  “Fine.” Kain strides right past him and I flinch the moment I realize his intent. With far too much strength he rips the door open. And without a lock to strain against his effort, the damn door tears right off its hinges.

  “There’s …. no lock on the door,” he mumbles.

  Chaos cocks a brow at him. Rime side eyes the fiasco that is my life. Sinister coughs through a shaking laugh, and I stand trying to pretend to be the good little prisoner that I’m expected to be.

  I’ve never seen Kain awkward the entire time I’ve known him. Right now, with an entire metal door held in his big hand, watching him try to delicately place it back where it belongs, it’s a painful sight. The metal clanks against the brick as it slides, threatening to topple over. Moments pass while we all watch the shifter quietly.

  Finally, he turns away from it, facing me head on. His eyes meet mine for the first time. “Come on, Arlow. We’re leaving.”

  The energy in the room changes swiftly. It’s like it isn’t even our doing. Someone greater, a goddess of all bad timing is the only logical explanation. Because the man who clearly cares about Agatha, and respects her and would never harm her or her friends, is finally pushed a little too far.

  The man’s hand grips over Kain’s arm and he shoves my shifter into the wall.

  “You think you can come in here and break her out of the holding center? Are you mad?”

  Suddenly all the strange things of the evening fall into place. The mistake I made following the voice in the middle of the night. The violence death of a prominent man’s daughter. The lock that was carelessly broken. The door that was ripped a bit too violently off the hinges.

  It’s all so perfect. I can’t help but wonder what else has been a domino effect in my life.

  Through clenched teeth Kain speaks as slow and rationally as possible. “Skovence. Take your fucking hands off of me.”

  All that rationality that Kain shoves into those words are for nothing.

  Another irrational mind is far quicker.

  Bricks brake way, clattering down around us. They scrape against my skin until strong arms wrap around me, pulling me farther into the cell and against his chest. The room itself trembles from a force of the growing beast before me. Black scales, wafting wings, and sharp claws fill the room. A hornless head jars through the ceiling. Crisp cold air stings my skin, and all I can do is look up in awe at the rage that’s settled into the sweetest eyes I’ve ever known.

  Chaos may have struck first but I ruined this. I tried so hard to belong here when Ellise is right, I don’t belong anywhere. Not really.

  And now it’s too late to fix it.

  When a rasping roar fumes heat into the shambles of my cell, the other man shifts. Silver scales and shining white horns rip across Skovence’s skin until he’s more monster than man. And all that human logic disappears as he charges into Chaos.

  Dust billows, clouding the thrashing movements of the animals. Snapping teeth and rumbling growls are all that can be heard, and I rush toward the sound without hesitation.

  Chaos, stop! Please. This is a mistake. Chaos. Please stop!

  The pleas I send through our mating bond are answered with a ripping roar and then Chaos takes out the final wall as he pummels the other man into the ground, fastening his claws into the beast’s throat. Crumbled brick scatters across my feet. Metal strikes against the ground. It all comes falling down.

  Rime’s palm flattens against my stomach and he pulls me away from it all.

  We need to leave.

  Rime’s voice in my mind is a calming sound among the pandemonium.

  He’s right. The feminine voice sends a chill down my spine. It’s a warped melodious tone, like words lost under water.

  And then she’s there.

  Ellise’s fur shawl is a bright white color wrapped around her shoulders. She looks like an angel with the pale hues of the moonlight casting down on her.

  “Arlow it’s time. It’s now or never, friend.” Her palm looks small as she holds it peacefully out to me.

  Adrenaline tinged hope blooms through my chest. That warming feeling is pushed aside as I feel the steel of his muscle tense through his arm. Harder he presses me against his chest. Sinister steps in front of the mage. Kain comes closer to my side. Two dragons continue to plow and slam into the ground hard enough to shake their rage right into me.

  “Arlow.” Rime’s words are careful. Thought out. “What is the Solstice Queen doing here?”

  “I thought she was dead,” Kain whispers, his body coming closer until his chest brushes my shoulder, his palm moving protectively across my stomach, just below Rime’s.

  My brows crease and suddenly I know where I know her from.

  The dusty portrait in the King’s attic doesn’t do the aging woman any justice.

  She’s more serene and beautiful in person.

  And nothing makes any sense.

  My big eyes meet Kain’s and I know he’s the last person I wanted to say this to, but he’s also the one person I need on my side.

  “We need to go to the Northern Kingdom, Kain. It’ll be peaceful there. More secluded. Life will be so much easier there. Please come with me.” My words spiral through me and fall out in a rush of sentences as I look from one man to the next.

  And I’m met with silent confusion and brooding looks. I need him. I need the four of them so much it hurts.

  “What are you doing with the Solstice Queen, My Tamer?”

  “This doesn’t feel right.” Sinister backs away from Ellise until he’s inches from me.

  “I’ll go where ever you go. I’ll always follow you.” Kain’s deep green eyes are shadowed with concern. “But don’t follow this woman you don’t even know.”

  My
heart squeezes painfully at the sound of his words.

  “She and I are the same. We share a bond that you couldn’t even begin to understand.” Ellise’s words are composed and gentle and they’re cut off with scraping anger.

  “Don’t fucking pretend to tell me about bonds.” Kain turns on her, his shifting eyes taking in everything about Ellise.

  Apprehensive energy builds with the harshness of his words. Dust and debris swirl through the breeze around us. It stings my eyes and makes the world impossibly hard to see clearly.

  “I’m here as a friend.” Small hands come out in front of her, but I feel something the moment her palms raise. Magic singes the air, poised and ready. It’s a defensive stance. One wrong move will send her powerful energy slicing through our surroundings.

  “Kain, it’s okay.” My fingers slip into his, but Rime never releases his hold from around my waist.

  Tension rises with each passing second.

  The moment Chaos’ massive foot kicks hard against the remaining few bars in the ground, they rip from the brick flooring. Another strong kick and a single rod flies through the air. It happens so fast. It smacks against Ellise’s arm. Her shawl slips quickly away but her magic strikes out even faster.

  It’s a simple reaction. A matter of cause and effect. She was harmed and the effect … it’s monumental.

  Flashes of brilliant green slice through the evening air. Striking bright colors sink into the inky scales of the beast I love so much.

  A screeching cry leaves the shifter. His body collapses against his left wing as he lands hard onto a pile of brick.

  My legs lunge before I can even think and Rime slams me hard against his chest, reeling me back before I ever really move. I thrash against his body. My nails sink into his skin. My hair flings across my face and still I’m held safely in place.

  Skovence backs away from the threatening magic. His big silver wings tuck in close and he steps away from Chaos and the assaulting mage.

  Kain’s chest rises and falls rapidly. Then smoke wafts from his lips. He exhales that smoke into his fist and I’m still fighting to get to Chaos. I stop moving the moment Kain flings that peculiar smoke from his hand. A fiery ball of power slings toward Ellise. It rolls, building in size as it aims perfectly toward the mage.