“Please, let me go,” I begged. “I don’t belong here. My bond to you has been Severed. I’m of no use to you. Take me home and I swear you will never see or hear from me again.”
“My dear, that is the very last thing I wish. I will lay with you every day and give you my seed. And once the child is born, I shall do it again and again and again.”
I whimpered.
With the soft look in his eyes, he had meant that to sound reassuring.
Boy, was he wide of the mark.
“Your bond has not been Severed,” he said. “It may be a little muffled but it is not gone. And in twelve hours it will return full force and we shall join. I will claim you and my honor shall be witnessed by the Council. And all the empire will watch us consummate our mating ceremony.”
Mating ceremony.
Now where did I recall that from?
It was something Vai had said, I was sure.
Something he had told me…
The blood drained from my face as I recalled exactly when he’d said it:
“After he mates with you, he will share you with the rest of his species in a mating ceremony. They will each take their turn, one after another. You will be impregnated and then forced to give birth. The moment you do, they will breed you again. And again. Until your body can take no more and you die. Maybe it will be from exhaustion or your heart will give out.”
Those were Vai’s words.
They chilled me to the bone more now than they had the first time I heard them.
Because then, he had given me his assurance it would never happen.
It was the stuff of nightmares.
“Why don’t you take me now?” I said. “Like you were going to on Earth. Why now do you want to take me to the ceremony?”
“Because many Shadow have been waylaid on his return trip. The more prudent course of action is to take you on your planet. The rewards and esteem are not the same but it’s better than returning empty-handed.”
I glared at him.
“Then why not take me now?”
It’ll give me a chance to stab you in the back while you do it, I thought.
If it had to happen, then so be it, but I wouldn’t let him take me to his Shadow Realm if I could avoid it.
He peered at me and a wayward shard of light from the bedside lamp highlighted the dangerous glint in his eye.
“Because now, we’re so much closer to the Shadow Realm. Your M’rora mate is heading back to his homeworld. He will never know what happened to you. A pity, I always thought. Much better for the failed mates to know what happened just when it is too late for him to do anything about it.”
He grinned maniacally.
“You’re a monster,” I said, staring openly at his cruelty.
“We are all monsters.”
Iav stood at his full height.
“Soon, we will arrive at the Citadel. You will be presented before the Council and placed in a holding cell. Once the bond has returned, the ceremony shall begin. And your purpose will be fulfilled.”
“No, please…” I said.
He didn’t wait to hear my pleas and marched through the door.
“Please!” I screamed. “Let me go!”
No one was there to hear it.
Iav wrapped his powerful hand around the back of my neck and clutched so tight my breaths came in haggard gasps.
He shoved me forward and I staggered down the ramp to the landing pad below.
He’d removed the bonds from my ankles so I could walk.
Any hope I had of escape was muted by the knowledge he would be beside me every step of the way.
The landing pad was a large rectangle-shaped construct with ships taking off and landing in a well-choreographed dance.
No sooner had we stepped off the ship than another Shadow stepped on board and the ramp hastily closed up behind him.
It took off and rose into the overcast grey sky.
Iav shoved me again and I grunted to prevent myself from losing my feet.
He steered me toward the steps that led into a huge building with arched doorways and monolithic spires perched upon each corner.
Everything in this world was tainted by a dark filter as if a coal mine was nearby and spilled its soot over every inch of the city.
What did I expect in a place known as the Shadow Realm?
“Keep walking,” Iav growled, pushing me again.
My boots clattered on the black marble floor.
My eyes darted left to right, surveying the scene in case I managed to escape later.
Dammit, I would escape.
There was always a way out.
Always.
I memorized our journey through the long hallways so I could run down them later.
I would hop in one of their shuttlecraft and tell it to take me home.
For now, I would play along, but only until I exposed a weakness in their defenses I could exploit.
Iav took me around a corner and I was shocked to see two, maybe three dozen other Shadows leading bound alien creatures.
Not all the captured mates were female.
Some were male—big, brooding creatures with arms the size of my head.
And still, they had gotten caught.
Others sported torn pixie wings, their faces swollen and beaten.
They stared at the floor as they were forced to march onward.
We were being ushered in the same direction—into a single large room with an impressive high ceiling.
And my hopes waned.
If there were so many of us, we couldn’t all hope to escape.
And the more of us there were, the more fated mates there had been in the past, and the more likely the Shadows would have designed a system to keep us trapped.
I kept my head held high if for no other reason than to show them I wasn’t afraid.
Inside, I was petrified.
My heart beat like a drum and I breathed so hard and loud I thought they could all hear me.
Iav drew me to one side,
