Chapter 1

Chapter

One

SELENE

A s I crashed through the shriveled branches of bloodwood trees, their serrated limbs and thorns snagged onto my leathers and tore into my flesh. Crimson sap dripped like blood onto the cold forest floor, mocking my pain and suffering. Nevertheless, I bounded forward through the Mortuus Woodlands, footprints of burning flames left in a trail as jaws snapped at my heels.

Nothing but the sound of my frantically beating heart, the faint clattering of metal armor, and the deafening snarls of Infernum's beasts filled the smoky air. Not one whistle or tune from a sparrow or even a chipmunk burrowing for the winter inhabited this decrepit forest.

All that remained within Atrium was death and misery.

In between the straggly branches that seemed to cave in the closer I came to the end, the dirt clearing was already in view. I could feel the sinister hound's hot breath on my ankles, the distance between us growing thinner with each passing second, but I just needed to make it a few more yards.

Just a few more steps.

Foam streamed from their maws as I cleared through the rotting shrubbery, burning the tree's limbs in my wake. Those untamable beasts were death incarnate. Creatures born and bred of darkness and malice, they were triple the size of the average wolf. Their onyx heads and paws were more reptilian shaped, with serrated teeth and vertical pupils that caged that feral sheen within them.

More flames whispered over my shoulders, trailing off my shredded leather suit in a haze of fiery wrath. Snarls turned to whimpers as my Godsfire devoured the hound closest to me agonizingly slow.

These beasts would feel my suffering and more.

An Infernal hound latched onto my arm, its serrated teeth digging into my flesh as golden blood cascaded from the open wound and onto the blood-covered dirt. I didn't scream out in agony as its venom-coated fangs dug deeper and the scent of its brimstone-coated fur filled my nostrils. Didn't make a single sound as its Infernal poison seeped into my veins and filled them with hellish fire.

Unhinging my jaw, I bit the deadly mongrel back with the resounding clash of my fangs hitting one another as I shredded through the flesh and muscle and bone and ripped its throat out.

Crimson blood filled my half-dragon half-High Fae maw, its rotting taste causing my esophagus to burn as I released the beast's lifeless corpse from my grasp. Before its limp body had a second to hit the ground, ruby red eyes glowed through the darkness of Umbra and surrounded me in a frenzy of maroon before another canine took its place. Vivid pain bloomed across my back, causing me to snarl in agitation.

Roaring again as more animals pounced onto me, I broke bones and snapped necks as their teeth and claws gouged and shredded my skin, which was littered with iridescent scales. Some growled and retreated a few meters back only to circle me and strike again as their companions continued in their assault of my flesh.

I ripped and tore and destroyed in a murderous haze of blood and fur and fangs until my teeth dug into my last kill. Crimson rained upon the earth as I shredded its body into bits and sent its corpse careening across the makeshift battlefield.

Panting from their onslaught, my skin started stitching back together from the rapid healing given to me by the Gods, leaving not even a scar in its wake. With all my powers, I had the ability to kill most beings within a second but there was something so agonizingly beautiful in doing it by hand.

In giving yourself over to the chase of predator and prey.

My nostrils flared as I inhaled the ashy air, bloodlust still clouding my mind. Still left that gnawing ache in my gut that urged me to keep taking life after life, soul after soul.

Crimson fogged my vision as I bathed in the blood of those who didn't give me what I wanted.

What I needed.

Bones crunched under my boots as I stomped over the broken bodies of the forgotten soldiers and their protective hounds that I had led to this clearing time and time again and slain. Horns sounded off in the distance, signaling Atrium's remaining soldiers to return to their bases rather than continue chasing me down like their mongrels had. Maroon and black blood dripped from my clawed fingertips, and through the burning debris of the dead forest, I could see Atrium's finest soldiers retreating into the pit they crawled out of.

My heart pounded in rhythm with the constant question that raced through my brain in a mind-numbing repetition.

Where is he?

Where is he?

WHERE IS HE?

But I was done asking for the answers I needed. Done voicing that incessant question that these weak mortals never seemed to have a rebuttal for.

Instead, I had been taking those answers for weeks now.

Taking the breath from these now rotting corpses and taking their pathetic lives.

But those fuckers deserved the deaths I bestowed upon them and much, much more.

They'd signed the contract with the devil himself the moment they decided to bow to the High King of Atrium. Now, they would never bow again. Never get to grovel for their pathetic lives at the foot of a merciless tyrant.

Never get to live again.

They had released those vicious canines in a last-ditch effort as their numbers dwindled by my hand. Only a few soldiers remained as they made their way to the clearing and watched me shred their precious pets with horror written across their faces. Hundreds upon hundreds of Atrium's soldiers had fallen in the name of finding him.

My hollow laughter filled the air as a male with once bright blonde hair, now darkened by the blood and gore, started to retreat towards the edge of the Mortuus Woodlands I'd burned through. No living creatures inhabited the dead forest within Atrium, not since High King Seraphim drove them all out to turn it into training grounds for his foot soldiers.

Murky shadows unfurled from my body and lashed out at the male who wouldn't hold his ground, wouldn't keep his vow to protect the horrid country he swore to defend. Fiery golden eyes filled my mind as darkness surrounded me—the memory of my Mate's expression of pure joy as I harnessed my shadows made my powers stronger, more potent as I imagined him beside me at that moment. His tantalizing scent of mahogany teakwood had been drowned out weeks ago by the metallic scent of blood and burnt flesh, leaving my heart pounding for just one more little taste of his essence.

The longer I searched for him without any sign to indicate his location, the more hopeless I became. He was no longer here with me because of these monsters, and now they all deserved to pay. It didn't matter if they were innocent when it came to his capture, or if they even knew the High King's plans.

They were guilty by association of Atrium, and that was enough for me.

Rationally, I knew that none of this was this soldier's fault, but unfortunately for him, I couldn't seem to access that part of my brain through the fury and hate flooding my system. The soldier's beautiful screams littered the air with their melodic sound and my monster purred within as those misty tendrils broke his arms, then his legs, followed by the loud cracking of his neck and spine.

My claws wouldn't retract nor would my fangs as I tore into another male dressed in that blackened armor representing Atrium's Capital; the Umbran Court. His savory blood—still untouched by the dark magic of Medies spreading throughout the land—spurted from his exposed throat and splattered across my face before his shriek of affliction could leave it.

I let the soldier's battered body slump as the next male opened a portal of ice in the distance, attempting to run through it and escape my wrath. Snowflakes and powdery snow rained down upon the scorched earth from the portal, melting immediately on impact. A sadistic grin spread across my face as I let my prey think they'd gained the advantage. Let them think they could actually escape me like that crumpled heap of flesh had just attempted.

But they couldn't escape death. Death was inevitable, and so was I.

Pleasureful shivers raked down my body when the heel of my foot met a skull and cracked it into pieces. The High Fae's upper half went through the portal and I barked out another crazed laugh, my vision zeroing in on my prey. My back arched as I reached for that pure white tendril within the swirling pool of my powers, its icy might enveloping every fiber of my being as it fled through me and sent a blast of sleet and violence.

The conjured portal closed within an instant, my magic overpowering his. I watched in delight as his body was sliced down the middle, leaving nothing but frozen blood and their lower half to join my field of fallen.

He was the last of the soldiers stationed within the latest small territory I paid a visit to on the Western Continent of Atrium. The visitors in the village closest to the coast and townspeople cleared the area the moment my claws hit the soil and my fire surrounded them. Only the guards remained as I scoured through the seaside town in search of my Mate. Their bloodcurdling screams filtered through the air when they didn't answer the simple question I had kept asking over and over and fucking over.

Where is he?

The scent of burning flesh still lingered in the air, and I smiled as I inhaled that intoxicating aroma of death. My magic retracted, snuffing out the flames and leaving behind only the charred remains of the soldiers and mongrels I had decimated. I was not going to go through the trouble of burning their bodies into nothing but ash. I wanted to leave a trail, a message , that said I was looking for my Mate and that I would kill and hurt and maim any who stood in my way.

This was my statement to the realm and anyone who had a hand in taking him from me. Every place I landed, it was the same time and time again. More deaths and still no answers.

It had been almost thirty days of this bullshit.

A whole fucking month of searching for my Mate, for the other half of my soul. With each passing day, with every life I stole, I lost another piece of myself to the fact that he wasn't there taking it with me. I could feel my broken soul shattering into oblivion the longer we were apart.

But I still couldn't feel him through our now-completed Bond. The dark magic surrounding him blocked even the power blessed by the Fates from finding him again.

I had avoided shifting fully into my dragon form for too long at once in fear that I would lose myself completely to the bloodlust again. He was my anchor and without him, my sanity would drift off to sea with no hope of returning. My heart ached and my skin itched from staying in this form. I needed to shift, needed to feel the air beneath my wings and to feel that sweet relief from being encased in this meat suit. But if I lost myself, then I would lose him too.

I could feel myself drifting further into that darkness with every intake of breath that he did not share. It was a slow descent into madness, into the depth of darkness. I could feel my soul wilting away the longer we were apart and I didn't know how much longer this agony could last.

How much more I could take.

It had been a month since I had seen the way his golden eyes lit up with a simple touch from my blood-covered hands or the way his darkened smirk could turn into a bright smile that rivaled the stars themselves.

"Fuck," my voice cracked and the tears started to build in my eyes. My gaze traveled to my gore-covered palm and I quickly used my magic to wash away the carnage that remained on my skin. A large raised scar, the mark of our Mating Bond, laid neatly across my palm and I could still feel the slash of the blade against it as Emrys and I bound our souls together for all of eternity. That mark would forever remain on my skin, as deeply embedded in my soul as my Mate was.

But I needed him now, and time was running out.

There were only another two months left until Bruma, the shortest day of the year. Every ten thousand years, the Moons of the Divine would appear during our holiday, blessing us with their magical essence. It had only been twenty-six years since they last came on the night I was born, at the exact moment they intersected.

But even without their divine power lighting up our sky, there was still magic in the air during the Winter Solstice and this year's solar eclipse would add to that influence. Enough that it would be the day that the High King had chosen to sacrifice his son so he could bind himself to the Crown of Daemonium and unleash its power to kill and even control the strongest of us.

Durreos Seraphim would have an Infernal power equal to the Gods. To equal me.

But there was no magic, no curse, or creature, or monster that could keep me from my Mate.

Not even his own father or the Creators themselves.

I would ravage this entire realm until I got him back. I would eradicate the fucking world if he no longer walked upon it. I would rather destroy myself and everyone alongside me if I couldn't have him again.

And I was not going to be sorry for what I had done and for what else I was about to do. Nor for all the lives I had taken and the bodies I'd left in my destructive wake.

He was mine and it was time that this fucked up world learned who he belonged to.