Page 14 of Breeding Season
“Ashley and I were saved because we were labeled K’onn. The others were given to the Herd. Some were brought here, and the others were eaten.”
My stomach jumped into my mouth. I felt sick.
A tight, cold smile, the same I’d seen in the harem entrance, crossed Jania’s lips. She didn’t move away. Her eyes remained on the mark.
“Do you have another one?” she asked. My cheeks flushed, but then it dawned on me.
“How do you know about the second mark?” I asked. She ignored me.
“I know more than that, Pele. I know how you mourned your mother’s death. I know why you really left Florida. You really think that piece of skin is the problem?” Her tone shifted,becoming flat. “Do you love him now that he’s controlling your body?”
The truth hit me like a train wreck.
“You’re my stalker?” I recoiled.
Ashley looked confused, glancing between us.
“What’re you talking about, Jania? You’re being crazy,” she whined.
Jania ignored Ashley completely. Her eyes were now wide and glistening with manic obsession. She leaned closer, dropping her voice to a possessive whisper.
“It’s not the skin, Pele. It’s the soul.” She reached into the pocket of her pink tunic. My blood ran cold. The silence of the cavern seemed to press in, deafening me to the distant murmurs of the concubines. I wrapped my arms around myself, but it was useless.
“I spent years tracking them,” Jania continued, her voice now a horrifying, even lecture. “The mark on your neck doesn’t matter; it’s the one on your stomach. That one…” She reached out and pressed a finger right where the hoof-crescent mark sat on my navel. It instantly burst into a searing, agonizing fire. I doubled over, choking on the pain. Ashley screamed and scrambled backward off the stone ledge.
“The bond,” Jania hissed, her face close to mine, her eyes blazing with insane jealousy, “is a psychic lock on your essence. And I know how to break it.”
She pulled a smooth, cool piece of obsidian from her pocket and pressed it against my mark. The dark stone glowed as she spoke in an unfamiliar language.
“You were supposed to be mine,” she hissed.
I felt a sudden, violent wrenching deep inside me, like something was being ripped out. The agony was so immense, so absolute, my knees felt weak. Jania’s maniacal conqueringlaughter echoed off the stone walls as I fell and slipped beneath the water.
Prove it
Taur
The disrespect Gorok showed me at the council meeting wouldn’t go unchecked. Trying my patience and making a fool out of me in front of the others was a clear sign of treason. It took everything not to pull his tongue from his caniving mouth. The kings would have expected it. It wasn’t normal for a show of force at a gathering. At the last one, Ryder and Darius ate the previous human speaker. He’d been stupid enough to claim their mate as his own.
But I was not like them.
The rage did not rule me.
I was in control, not my instincts.
I didn’t need to kill Gorok in front of an audience. I could dole out his punishment on my own time, like right now. The walls rattled and dust fell as his back hit the stone. Hand on his horns, I kicked him in the chest. His ribs cracked as he took one blow after the other.
The way he watched her, the blatant disrespect of coveting my Mát while he fucked another, was enough to sign his death warrant.
My Mát would not feel threatened by another male in my realm.
“You dare covet what’s mine, Gorok?” I snarled as his head hit the ground.
“Never,” he choked out the lie before he spat out blood.
I had one goal: to claim his soul. Gorok wouldn’t live to see another day. But as a pain so severe it churned my gut and a blinding migraine split my skull, I wavered. The severed bond shrieked, tearing through the granite walls of my fortress. Confusion swam. I’d just left her in the safety of the Herd’s women. My knees nearly buckled.
My rage was cold and propelled toward one thing: finding her. I turned from the mass on the floor and headed back. I ran the distance back to the harem quarters. A new scent chased behind me: fear. Thoughts raced through my mind. I’d just found her. I’d done nothing to get to know her. I didn’t even know her fucking name.
