Page 7 of Imbalance
A surge of magic blew through my system, making me feel like I'd been electrocuted, just as the ground truly began to rock beneath our feet, throwing some people to their asses and others to their knees. It was like I was having an out of body experience as I watched my body spasm with whatever had hit me, but I didn't feel any pain.
The world tilted as I fell to the side, but someone must have caught me before my head could smack against the ground once more.
Damien’s orange eyes, glowing like fire, were the last thing I remembered seeing before everything went dark.
CHAPTER FOUR
Ama
The sensation of warmth against my side had me letting out a contented sigh as I rolled over onto my back, enjoying the heat infusing itself through my body. Damn. Whatever I was lying on sure as hell didn’t have a lot of cushion, but it did feel good on my sore muscles. It felt like the beginning of a hot stone massage.
A sudden low rumbling caused whatever I was lying on to shake and had me muttering a curse as I opened one eye. It was reminiscent of when the ground had quaked beneath us before I’d passed out.
Where was I?
Immediately, I frowned, realizing that I was not in our realm, or at least not somewhere I recognized. This had to be a dream, right? It’s not like I could have physically teleported here.
I was alone and surrounded by stone walls on all sides, seemingly underground. The walls glowed vibrant shades of red and orange, which radiated from a river that ran through the middle of the cave.
Sitting up, my eyes widened as I realized it was no river, but something filled with magma. Oh shit. Was I in a volcano? We didn’t have time for this weird fantasy world I was creating in my head while a volcano was legitimately beginning to erupt in real time.
The stone platform I seemed to be sitting on rumbled again, making me jump down onto the flat surface of the floor. I stepped back slightly, eyeing the spot where I had just been laying. It almost appeared to be a...no, it couldn’t be. Could it? I frowned, not liking that it looked eerily similar to a stone tomb.
That was creepy. All of this was creepy.
“Okay,” I breathed out, looking around and trying to decipher what the fuck was going on. Why did I have to pass out in the middle of a possibly life-threatening situation? That wasn’t cool at all.
The rock behind me rumbled again, but much louder this time, and I stepped back, eyeing the river of magma. If something came out of that tomb and scared me, my ass was going to scream and jump into that river by accident, with my luck.
My ears began to buzz, and my face flushed as a weird surge of desire slammed into me, sending me falling to my knees as my body turned into jelly. The top rock shifted slightly from the tomb, and instead of the fear I had expected, my desire only increased as a mouthwatering, almost sugary scent filled the space around me. My vision blurred and my chest heaved, my breathing becoming erratic.
Silver and black smoke poured from inside of the stone tomb and onto the floor, seeping towards me like a weird fog.
I felt a presence lingering in my mind. Calling out tentatively, I asked, "Hello?"
I didn't expect an answer, but I got one. The voice was gravelly, like someone who had just woken from sleep, and dual emotions coursed through my system, leaving me in a paralyzed state of fear and lust.
"I've been waiting a long time for you, Little Temptress."
“Okay, time to wake up,” I whimpered, trying to convince my mind that this wasn’t real and it was time to go back to reality.
The underground cavern shook violently as I squeaked and fell back onto my ass. My fingers met the edge of the stone platform, and the stones instantly crumbled beneath my touch. I cried out as I realized I was at the edge of the volcanic river.
“Oh my devil, this is such a fucked dream,” I breathed out as my heart raced wildly.
A deep laugh, laced with darkness, filled the space around me and had me jolting. My hand slipped, and I cried out as I began to fall towards the river of lava. I closed my eyes, preparing myself for my flesh to be burned away, just as everything turned black around me.
But not before I heard that same deep, rough, gravelly voice say, “Until next time, Little Temptress.”
* * *
“Ama!”A familiar voice had me jolting up and slamming into a very solid chest, smashing my nose and driving a groan from my lips.
My eyes stung as tears welled from the blow to my nose, so I kept them shut and patted the chest in front of me experimentally with my hand, finding it bare and warm beneath my palm. Nowthatwas a nice chest. Who the hell was being so unfairly sexy at this time of day? Or night? Where was I again?
Ah, Damien. For sure, Damien. Not only was the Hellhound prince the most likely of the six men I was currently with to go shirtless, but his intoxicating bonfire scent was wrapped around me like a cocoon. Wait, was I...was I wearing his shirt?Hadn’t he been naked?
My body was still flushed, and my memories were hazy as I tried to piece together where I was and how the dream I'd just come out of correlated with reality. Muttering under my breath, I finally pried my eyelids open once they stopped burning and came face to chest with the gorgeous tattoo over his right pectoral. It was ornate, made of black geometric patterns that highlighted the golden hue of his skin. I very much wanted to touch it—and a lot more than that, if I was being honest.
