Page 66 of Imbalance
At first, I'd tried to make amends by pointing the couple hundred hybrids left to the darklands and providing a drop of my blood to a line of my choosing. I made sure their leaders would bring them from the dark into a prosperous future.
Yet, I knew it would never be enough. Not when I felt so damned empty inside.
So, I did the right thing. I left the keys to the kingdom in the hands of the monarchs of Hell’s pure-blood factions, who I felt wouldn't burn the realm to the ground in my absence. I had no desire to watch hundreds of years go by, continuously reminding me of how I was not only incapable of earning love but also not deserving of it. So, I did the only thing I could do...I went to sleep.
The body I now had was much the same as the one I'd fallen asleep with. The spell to preserve it had worked flawlessly, but my mind had aged. The deep, meditative, sleep state I'd been in had allowed my mind to wander in the time I was asleep but I couldn't remember most of it...well, until Ama.
Nothing should have woken me from that state except the call of my soulmate. I had ensured the spell was set that way.
As I washed my hair, I thought of how everything had changed in a span of seconds.
When everything had gone from a hazy, relaxed existence of sleep to sudden clarity and sharpness, I had heard the call of my Little Temptress. Of course, I was now realizing that it had been subconscious on her end, since she thought I was a damned figment of her imagination because all I'd been capable of was projecting myself into her dreams.
The spell on my physical body had worn off, but my energy and magical levels needed to be recharged. Over the few days since awakening, I’d used a minute amount to be with her in the only way I could manage at the time while recuperating my strength. But when she’d challenged me to appear, unknowingly goading me, I’d known I could no longer stay away from her. I’d been strong enough to create a portal again, and my rage had been simmering within me knowing the company she kept.
Of course, it didn't help that she had essentially pushed me when she’d allowed another man to physically mark her as his mate. That had enraged me. Not at her—no I couldn't be mad at my Little Temptress because she wasn't aware of what was happening between us. She didn’t know that I was real and coming for her, to make her the queen of this realm. To rule with me for eternity. Instead, I felt fury towards him. A Hellhound. A creature of my creation had laid claim to my mate.
I had thought I would have time to court Amare properly...but when she’d claimed she was mated to the other men in her company as well? I’d absolutely lost it. She had onlyonemate, and that was me. I had waited thousands of years for her, and now that I had her, I would not be sharing her.
Absolutely fucking not.
Turning off the shower, I grabbed a towel to dry off, frowning as I tried to determine how the hell I was going to handle the Hellhound scum who had marked her. A small part of me wanted to peel that mark off her skin and heal it, so that she had no trace of whatever they'd shared together. It made me so damned angry that I could practically level the entire fucking realm whenever my eyes landed on it.
Deal with it later.That was what I kept telling myself.
When I walked into the bedroom, I noticed Ama had shifted slightly, curling around a pillow as she frowned in her sleep, making me feel distressed. I didn't like her upset.Fuck.I usually never cared when anyone was upset, but with her, it hit hard enough that it made me feel almost panicked.
I quickly got dressed in the closet, putting on a pair of black dress pants and a white button-down. When I came back out, I noticed that this time, her face was flushed, and my jaw clenched, knowing she was in a dream. I could feel her fucking Succubus magic teasing me as it blossomed with her, and considering I wasn't with her...that made me want to reach into her mind and take whoever was in there with her and rip their spine out.
I could give it to her as an apology present for kidnapping her to my castle or something. A show of good faith that I would always protect her from anyone and that I had no intention of letting anyone else lay a finger on her.
Perhaps that would be more of a present for myself...I’d have to think of a different one for her.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, I placed my hand right below her throat and yanked her magic forcefully into the present and out of the dream state. A gasp of pain escaped her lips as her eyes flew open, panic infusing every part of her expression. I nearly winced at that, my frustration at wherever she'd been in the dream now replaced with concern I'd hurt her.
I reminded myself that it needed to be done. It was either pull her back to reality or destroy whoever had been in the dream with her. I couldn’t risk upsetting her further by doing the second option, which really had been tempting.
Maybe she’d grace me with a kiss for restraining myself.
"Holy shit, that hurt," she groaned, grabbing a pillow and squeezing it.Fuck.It was clear I'd accidentally used too much power.Good job, Luce.Definitely not getting that kiss.
"I didn't mean to hurt—" I explained but was cut off as her attention changed.
Ama's eyes snapped to mine, the reality of where she was clearing taking hold as surprise and a series of other emotions flashed through her gaze...before settling on anger.Shit.
"You," she hissed, her wings snapping out as she lunged forward, catching me off guard. I grunted as I fell back onto the bed with her over me, her hand around my neck as she locked me onto the bed as if she had any chance of holding me there. I let her believe it. Let her believe that the devil himself was being held to the bed by this sexy little hybrid...And I would be the first to admit that it sort of turned me the fuck on.
I hadn’t expected her to be such a wild little thing, but she was my other half, so I supposed it made sense.
"Yes, me, Little Temptress," I couldn't help but smirk at the heat in her gaze. I also saw the jolt of surprise as she realized how hard I was underneath her. I didn't feel bad about that shit, since she was the one on top of me, but I did take pleasure in the surprise and heat that crossed her face.
"What the hell did you do?" she demanded as her hair fanned out around us like a privacy shield.
"I think it's pretty obvious," I smirked, "You told me to appear in reality...so, I did."
"You kidnapped me!" she shrieked, her eyes wild with confusion and anger.
"That has such a negative connotation. I prefer saying I brought you home to your rightful place," I pointed out and offered her a charming smile, "Besides, Little Temptress, if you think about it, I actually saved you from those vile men you were with."
