Page 12 of Branded By Shadow
But my body disagreed with every rational thought I attempted to cling to as defense.
I managed to drag one pillow into position, then pain doubled me over without warning. The smell in the room had grown even stronger, more cloying. It filled the entire space now, claiming it as mine, advertising my availability to the Alpha who’d already declared his intentions.
I felt like I’d been thrown back into the horror I’d experienced when I was younger, except a million times worse. If this was the infamous Demeter legacy at work, it was no wonder their Omegas were so rare. Maybe the bloodline Damon called divine would simply kill me. A small, desperate part of me hoped it would. Then, at least, I’d be free. Of him. Of this nightmare.
Unfortunately, my luck had run out the moment my path had crossed Damon Blackwood’s. The room suddenly grew chillier, the change so abrupt my breath fogged in the air. The shadows in the corners came to life. Damon manifested from the gloom, filling the space with his imposing, terrifying presence.
I tried to scramble backward, away from him. My legs refused to obey any commands. My muscles spasmed uselessly, weak and uncoordinated from the fever burning through me. “No,” I choked out, shaking my head. “Stay away from me.”
Damon’s obsidian eyes swept over me, taking in my destroyed clothing and fevered state. His nostrils flared, and his pupils dilated until only thin black rings remained. He was no longer just a man. He was the predator my body had been calling for.
“Your heat is finally hitting you,” he said, his voice deeper and rougher with Alpha instinct. “Just like I told you would happen. I was right, wasn’t I?“
I wanted to spit, to snap back at him, to turn him away. But his scent hit me like a wave, settling in my lungs, suffocating every protest as it formed. The cramping in my abdomen intensified into a blinding, white-hot agony.
This was it, the same cruel paradox he’d warned me about. His presence made the pain worse while promising the only possible relief.
“I don’t... need you,” I gasped, each word a battle against my body’s demands. The cold stone pressed against my feverish flesh, the only anchor to reality as everything dissolved.
Shadows danced around Damon’s feet in frantic, dizzying patterns. They always seemed alive around him, but now, they were… hungry. Or perhaps that hunger lived in his eyes as he studied my collapse.
“Your formula was impressive work,” he said, taking a measured step closer that made me flinch. “But you can’t fight evolution forever, Cora. Especially not with your bloodline awakening.”
I had to get away from him. Had to move. I tried to push myself backward across the floor, my arms shaking with the effort, barely supporting my weight. I managed to slide myself a few inches before my strength gave out.
“Stay back,” I repeated, a final plea that had become my last line of defense.
He ignored it, just like I’d suspected he would. “I know everything about you,” he said, stepping forward once again. “Including what you need right now to make the torment stop.”
His voice was a low, hypnotic rumble. In a panic, I tried to move again, dragging myself backward with arms that trembledviolently. My legs wouldn’t cooperate at all anymore. They lay useless beneath me, refusing every command I gave them.
My body responded to his tone despite my desperate attempts to escape. Slick gathered between my thighs, a fresh wave of humiliation washing over me. I despised him for witnessing this. I despised myself even more for wanting what he offered.
Damon closed the distance between us in two final, predatory strides. I tried to lash out at him, but he caught my wrists easily. I’d been helpless against his strength even before my fever had stolen all my coordination. Now, I couldn’t even put up a proper fight.
“Leave me alone!” I screamed, the words raw and feral. “Let me go!”
“Oh, Dr. Ellis… I wouldn’t be here if that was really what you wanted.”
With those taunting words, Damon lowered me onto my back, pinning my wrists above my head. His weight was an anchor, immobilizing me completely. My chest heaved, each breath dragging more of his scent into my lungs, feeding the fire.
I tried to arch my back, to throw him off. The movement only pressed our bodies closer together, his heat searing through his shirt. The fever inside me spiraled higher, and I hissed in frustration.
Damon shot me a knowing look. “Are you finished?” he asked, as maddeningly calm as I was desperate.
“I’ll never be finished,” I whispered. It was a lie, or, at least, so I thought.
A fresh wave of pain stole what little strength I had left. And then, a sharp, unnatural sound echoed through the room. Pinned beneath Damon’s imposing weight and unable to move, I twisted my head sideways.
The small potted fern in the corner had exploded. Thick green vines shot across the floor, spreading with a speed that dwarfed what I’d seen hours ago. Leaves unfurled in a time-lapse blur, a silent, violent eruption of life. The delicate legs of a nearby table splintered and snapped as a vine wrapped around it, crushing the wood.
Damon released my wrists and rolled to his feet with a fluid grace that seemed impossible for a man his size. I scrambled upright, my back hitting the wall as the plants surged toward me. Tendrils of greenery curled around my ankles, not restraining, but providing an oddly comforting warmth. “W-What’s happening?” I stammered.
Small buds formed and bloomed into white flowers that had no business existing here. The floor cracked audibly as roots pushed through hairline fractures, seeking deeper purchase. Life erupted everywhere, primal and unstoppable.
“You already know the answer, Cora,” Damon told me. “Your Olympian blood runs true. Your body recognizes what it is even if your mind still refuses to accept the truth.”
I shook my head violently, unable to form coherent words through the shock. The rich scent of fertile earth filled the air, mixing with my heat to create something new. Something that spoke of growth and abundance and ancient power. I didn’t want to believe it. But I had no choice, did I?
