Page 78 of Marked By Moonlight
Emeric isn’t looking at me; he’s looking at Isolde. He’s my only hope. Whatever spell she cast on him, he’s still in there. He’s my friend. He’s on my side; I know it.
“Fight it, Emeric! Fight whatever hold she has on you!”
Emeric doesn’t even glance my way. His eyes are locked on Isolde.
I whip my head back to her just in time to feel the blast of her magic hit my chest with a force so powerful it’s like being struck by a cannon. Yet, my body doesn’t move.
I scream, but nothing comes out.
I cry, but no tears fall.
I thrash, but my body stays still, trapped in torment.
The blast feels endless, drawing out the agony until I’ve lost sense of time. Then, in a split second, it’s over.
I exhale deeply, trying to purge that energy out. But it’s trapped inside my veins. It quickly spreads through my body like a hot fire until I feel it down to the smallest of capillaries in my body.
I stare straight ahead, meeting Isolde’s eyes, which have returned to their normal color and are no longer glowing. But her knowing smirk terrifies me. Whatever she did, she’s pleased with herself.
“You can release her now.”
The second she says the words I’m free. I yank my arms to my sides, but it doesn’t matter that I have use of them again. I’m still as trapped as before, with them all surrounding me.
“What did you do to me?” I ask, still feeling the tingling warmth dance through my body.
There’s a twinkle in her eyes as she glances at the males around me. They all begin to shift into their human forms one by one until they are all standing bare.
I look for any signs of anyone breaking the hold that Isolde has on them, but they are all watching me so intensely, like they all want to devour me.
Isolde takes a step back as the men take a step closer.
“Emeric?” I say, panicked, even though I don’t have a lot of hope that he’s broken through the spell on him and can help me. I don’t have anyone else here that can help me.
But he’s disappeared into the crowd of men circling me.
I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself, when suddenly I get a scent of something—the evergreen, earthy, ancient scent that wraps around me in a familiar embrace and alights an uncontrollable desire in me.
A tsunami of want and lust ripples through me, starting in my core and then spreading out along my veins and capillaries, just like Isolde’s spell. My eyes shoot wide as I instantly realize what she did.
“No,” I say, barely above a whisper. “No, no, no.”
I meet Isolde’s gaze behind the circle of guys that all smell like Ambrose. All of them.
The look she gives me is one of pure arrogance.
She won.
I lost.
I still don’t understand why she thinks I’m not Ambrose’s mate. I’m not sure why she hates me so much and why she wants me gone. But she succeeded. I can feel it as easily as I can feel her magic seeping into every bone in my body. There is no part of me that can escape her, and she knows it.
“Who do you want?” one of the men says to me.
I turn my gaze to the man who spoke. The one with the red hair and sultry grin.
My eyes don’t stop at his eyes, though; they quickly sweep down his body, taking in his sculpted chest, rock-hard abs, and not even hesitating to soak in his large cock straining in my direction, more than happy to fulfill any fantasy I have.
I sweep through all of the men. I don’t hide my perusal of them. I don’t hide that I’m looking at every muscle, sharp line, and intimate part of their bodies. My cheeks don’t pinken in embarrassment. Instead, my eyes darken in arousal.
