Page 5 of Bitten By the Fae
I opened my mouth to offer a retort, when the ebony doors at the end of the hall swung open and a dark-haired male dressed in long, flowing robes stomped toward us. “What is the meaning of this, Shadow?”
Shadow?I eyed my companion.Really?
I supposed he did have a penchant for disappearing into thick clouds of smoke.
“What would you like me to say?” Shadow asked, his arms sprawled out across the back of the couch in the epitome of lazy nonchalance. “The Earth Fae Royal and I got a little carriedaway, my fangs slipped, and wouldn’t you know? Her blood reacted to my bite.”
My lips parted at his horrible recollection of what happened. “Carried away? Fangs slipped?” I repeated, jumping to my feet, only to be snatched back by the vines slithering across the wall.
I screamed, the smoke around my wrists tightening as a snake wrapped itself around my neck and squeezed to silence the sound.
The newcomer sighed and produced a wand. “Release,” he hissed, waving the violet stick through the air.
A sizzle of energy kissed my skin, the darkness of it in direct contrast to my earth essence inside. I shivered, the wrongness leaving me unnerved even as the snakes and my smoky bonds disappeared.
My knees buckled on instinct, sending me crashing into something hard and masculine.
Shadow.
His chest met my nose, his arms wrapping around me as he caught me before I could hit the ground.
I nearly growled, but my modesty took precedence first.
After fixing my blouse and skirt, I shoved him away. “Don’t touch me.”
“That’s not what you said an hour ago, princess.”
A growl unlike any I’d ever released before burst from my mouth as I launched myself at him, desiring to do the utmost damage. Only, he caught me up in his arms again, chuckling the entire time.
“See what I mean, Father? She’s a wildcat who can’t keep her hands off me.”
Father?
I shook my head.Who cares?“I’m going to kill you!”
“Try” was Shadow’s arrogant reply.
Gah!I wanted to scream, to call on a tree to pound this dick into the ground, but my powers refused me here, my access to the source cut off through some means of dark magic. Otherwise, I would have used it to escape as soon as we arrived.
“You bit her,” Shadow’s father said.
A genius, he clearly was, because I still had the marks on my neck from the attack. And if I had my arms free, I’d have pointed to it for reference, just in case he needed to see it up close. But Shadow had me locked up against him, my breasts smashed to his chest as he held me captive in his far-too-muscular hold.
Shadow smiled down at me. “As I said, one thing led to another and?—”
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” his father demanded, cutting off his jackass of a son.
“Well, I thought it’d just be a taste, but yeah, I’m pretty aware of the mate-bond snapping into place. Why else would I have voluntarily stepped into this dreadful place if not to report the mistake?”
Mate-bond?“What mate-bond?” I wrestled in his arms once more, but he held me with the ease of a much stronger fae.
This was why I needed to take more physical defense classes. I’d grown used to relying on my element, which apparently didn’t work in this dark realm.
“Our mate-bond,” Shadow murmured. “We’re connected now, princess. Forever.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“It’s what you are, right? An Earth Fae Princess?” He cocked his head to the side. “Or are you a queen as the only Earth Fae heir?”
