Chapter 13

Ada

I'd heard Sebastian roaring as I was taken away, had seen him racing through the woods, following us, swiping at tree trunks, and tearing out the foliage in order to make his path clear.

But the creature holding me tightly with one arm was far too fast, the wind whipping around us the higher he ascended.

I'd heard this beast of a… whatever the hell he was, laughing as if hearing my mate roaring in clear torment and giving chase was something humorous.

I wasn't proud of how I'd spit curses at him, called him every name in the book, and promised to cut off parts of his body at the first chance I got.

He never responded, just holding me tightly to his chest and giving little snorts as if my fit was akin to being tickled.

I now figured "Diablos" was what he was or at the very least his name. Maybe he was from the Assembly facility. I had to assume that, seeing as Sebastian had used the term, seeming to know of him.

I didn't know how long he flew, but after a while I started to become exhausted. Of course a hard fucking by your mate would do that on top of being kidnapped.

But just as I started to feel my eyes growing heavy—as unbelievable as that sounded given I was being carted through the air—we landed with a heavy thud.

The top of a damn mountain. That's where he'd taken us.

I glanced twenty stories down, watching pebbles and rocks scattering around his feet where he landed, and falling over the drop.

And now here we were, hours later if I were to make a guess, sitting in this nasty, dank cave, the horizon starting to turn shades of orange and pink.

I felt dejected at seeing the sun rise. Because I knew for a fact that Sebastian wouldn't stop until I was found, but there was no way he could safely do that while it was daylight. I just hoped I was still in one piece when he did come.

I kept myself pressed to the corner of the cave, my knees pulled to my chest and my arms wrapped around them as I eyed the Diablos. He paced the tiny interior, and his movements reminded me of an agitated tiger.

He was murmuring in a language I had never heard, the words broken with grunts and clicks of his tongue making up whatever dialogue he was saying.

He kept glancing at the entrance of the cave, a very clear scowl on his face before he continued pacing and talking to himself.

When I turned my attention to the entrance, I watched as the sun started to rise, streams of light filling the first five feet of the cave. I also didn't miss how he stepped farther into the darkness.

Well. Well. Well. This big fucker can't handle the sunlight.

That was promising and gave me hope I may be able to get myself out of this.

"A little too bright out there for you?" Maybe poking jabs at him wasn't the best course to take.

He stilled and slowly turned to face me, his wide, barreled chest rising and falling fast and hard.

Okay, I probably should have kept my mouth shut. I pressed my back to the wall, the rock digging into the thin material of my shirt.

"I'd be careful what you say to me, little Fae. I'm not one to be fucked with."

I didn't respond, because frankly what the hell was I supposed to say? So I sat there and watched him go back to walking the length of the cave and kicking bones away without stopping.

I was scared—terrified, in fact—but I was also pissed. I had no idea why he'd taken me or what he wanted with me, well, aside from maybe making a meal out of me.

And that was kind of confirmed that it might be my ending as I glanced around the cavern. There were carcasses strewn all over the place, and the stench of them rotting away was enough to make me gag.

I was lost in thought as I stared at the desiccating face—I think it was a face—of one of those tentacle creatures. I could see its dried arms spread out around it, all withered and crinkled at the ends. The body itself was torn apart as if this beast didn't have the patience to just tear into it with his very sharp teeth.

It was the heavy fall of his footsteps coming closer that had my attention snapping from the carcass to Diablos.

He stilled just five feet from me now, his eerily completely black eyes drilling holes into my skull.

He tipped his head to the side, as much as he could with his enormous horns, and continued to watch me as if trying to figure out what I was.

And then his nostrils flared as he inhaled deeply. He made a disgusted sound as he raked his gaze down to my chest.

My shocked, pissed-off sound was loud as I crossed my arms over my breasts, shielding myself as much as possible.

"You smell like the vampire," he said and curled his lip as if the scent of me was somehow offensive. Like could he not smell that this whole cave reeked like rotting meat? "He's marked you hard. He might as well have bathed you in his semen."

I wrinkled my nose as a shocked gasp left me at how crude his language was. But I pursed my lips and kept anything I would've snapped back at him to myself. Last thing I wanted was to further piss him off. It seemed like me just being here was accomplishing that enough.

His huge body was bent forward because he was so massive, and with his arching horns, he wouldn't have been able to stand up straight anyway.

I narrowed my eyes and bit my tongue.

He was the one to narrow his eyes at me now, glaring, but I glared right back. He probably got off on me being terrified, and I refused to give him the satisfaction.

But then he tipped his head back and started chuckling, which momentarily took me by surprise, but I still glared at him.

"A tiny little thing like you going to go up against me." He lifted his claw-tipped hand and ran it over his face.

I didn't say anything as I continued to look at him, taking note that although his face and body were somewhat human-ish, with two arms and legs, and the usual ears, nose, mouth, and two eyes, none of that familiarity took away from how inhuman he was.

He continued laughing and the sound got deeper, more frightening, if I were being honest.

"I could use you as a toothpick, female."

My throat tightened and my mouth dried at hearing him say those words. "And is that what you plan on doing with me? Eating me?"

Truth be told, I didn't really want to know if that was his plan.

"Is that what you want me to do with you?" His voice was thickly accented and deeper than anything I'd ever heard before.

And I didn't like how he was throwing my question right back at me.

"Well, if I got a choice, I'd much prefer you take me back where you found me. We can go our separate ways and no one has to get hurt."

"No one has to get hurt…" He repeated my words in a monotone voice.

I slowly shook my head. "No. No one has to. You just let me get back to my mate and we can all go on our way."

He glanced back at the entrance as if he were truly mulling over my words, maybe changing his mind.

A little flutter of hope settled in my belly at the prospect that he was coming to realize I'd be more trouble than I was worth.

He slowly turned his head back to me, his eyes, once completely black, now slowly bled out to a glowing red. I tried to make myself smaller and knew it had been foolish to think I could have persuaded him in any other way than his.

"You have no mate now, female."

I felt my eyes widen at his words. I had no idea what he meant by that aside from… "Did something happen to Sebastian?" I straightened as chilling fear slammed into me. "Did you do something to him?"

My heart was thundering, and this cold sweat broke out across my forehead. The very prospect of losing Sebastian… no, I wouldn't think that way.

"You have no more mate. You're mine now. And I'll do with you as I see fit." He took a step toward me, but there was nowhere for me to go, no more room for me to escape.

"W… What? I have a mate. I'm his, and he'll come for me."

He just slowly shook his head.

"I'll die before I let you touch me. I'll cut off whatever freaky dick you have if you try and come near me with it."

He just laughed. "Female, I have no plans of mating with you. My body will only come aroused for my mate. But a companion?" He grinned. "I'll force you to stay with me for that alone, because solitude is a slow killer, especially for how old I am."

I furrowed my brow. "You want a damn friend?" I could have laughed if I wasn't so scared. "News flash, psycho. If you want someone to like you, don't go kidnapping them." I felt my anger replace my fear. Good. "Sebastian will kill you in the most brutal way." Of that I was certain.

"I'm sure he will come for you. Killing me, though?" He chuckled. "Not likely, female."

He stared at me, doing that damn examination again.

"I've been alone and alive in this world for a long time." He took a step toward me, his black claws tipping his toes digging into the ground. "A millennium, female, with no end in sight."

I'd heard of some Otherworld species living upward of a thousand years, but I knew that was usually the cutoff, the old of the old.

If this male was as ancient as he said he was—a millennium—and still fit and hard and dangerous as ever, could he possibly be immortal?

I had never heard of a creature possessing that kind of longevity.

"The prospect of finding my mate is not something I've thought about having for far too long." He bared his teeth as if that last part pissed him off. "So I'm done waiting. I'll just take someone else's mate."

"You can't just take one that isn't yours." I knew my words fell on deaf ears, and I whispered them more to myself than anything else.

"Oh you innocent, naive, tiny female. Don't you know I'm the very devil himself? I can do anything I want."