Chosen Darkness (Chosen Series) (17 page)

“Yes, but it is your job to bring them to order. The pure and the mixed, the Shadow and the Bitten – all of them come from the House of Lycan,” he reminded her.

“Sounds rather simple, but I assure you it is not,” Falyn stated.

“They will follow you… Maybe not without a fight at first, but they will, because it’s your fate to lead them.” The man squeezed her hand.

“Well, first I need to get us out of here and find the Gate…” But before she could finish, the Wiccan cut in.

“No Falyn, I will not be leaving this cell, but you will. The Gate will call you; trust your instinct this time. The poison is out of your system now. And Falyn?” he added.

“Yes?” she whispered

“In order to defeat your enemies, you need to be willing to embrace the darkness because you are born of the moon and of the night. You were never meant to be in the light.”

He never said anything more.

Falyn let go of the now limp hand and rested her head on the wall behind her. She was too drained of strength to escape right now. His words replayed in her head.
Never meant to be among the light
? A Druid’s power was from the Light. What was he talking about? Another mystery she would have no answer too!

The sound of footsteps echoed back to her. Two men came to the cell and brought her food. As they removed the man’s body, she watched them with new eyes: with the eyes of a wolf. They did not seem very alert. Either they missed the massive amount of blood on the cell floor or imagined it had come from the man, and they never gave her as much as a glance.

At first she was wary of eating something made by the enemy, but without food she would not have any energy to leave or to heal. The food tasted like dirt but that did stop her from eating it. The hard chunk of bread was like a rock but she ate this too. Once more she slept, giving her body a chance to recover.

Waking at dawn, she knew she was back to normal. She no longer felt weak. Sitting on the cot, she watched the cell door for hours. Then finally the guards came back, but this time they had no food with them. They dragged her outside. They did not speak to her, so she said nothing either. She went along with them quietly, waiting to see where they were taking her before she tried to escape. She hoped they would go outside somewhere. But no such luck. They went down directly into some sort of underground chamber. It was not too deep, but it gave no hope of an easy exit.

The cave was eerily lit with candles. It was like someone was trying to make it home... and they were. There was a man dressed in a long black robe, his hair all but gone.
Not a pretty sight
, Falyn thought, as she looked him over. She did not miss he too was looking her over and then it dawned on her: this must be the guy her dad all but sold her too.
Great pick, Dad
. She looked him in his dark, sunken eyes.

“Ah, Gatekeeper,” he oozed as he stood to greet her.

“Don’t call me that!” she hissed.

“Why, rub you the wrong way?” he sneered.

“Something like that!”

“Well, what is a name anyway? What I call you matters not to me as long as you know you’re mine!” He oozed glee.

“I am not anyone’s!” Falyn stated.

“Easy now, doll face, no need to go all she-wolf!” He laughed at his own joke.

“Be careful what you wish for!” Falyn informed him in a near growl.

She was unsure if she would be able to change. Last time he’d held her cuff and she’d crumbled, but she could feel the wolf in her now. Perhaps because of the blood draining, the power he had over her from that charm was gone.

“Oh, but I am careful, and look at what it got me… You!” he smirked. “Daddy sure did hold up to his end of the deal.”

“I hate to inform you but my dad had no right to give me to anyone!” Falyn let her disgust show.

“You have no say in the matter, little girl. You have something of ours!”

“I am not going to give you my blood to share with your demented buddies, so you can forget that idea right now,” Falyn told him.

“Who said anything about giving me your blood? That’s not what I want at the moment.” His voice was so soft it made her skin crawl.

“Then what do you want?”

“You. After I am done planting my seed in your belly, then you will pass the gift of your blood to my children, and they and I will be leaders of the first pure blood of my kind,” he assured her with an evil glint in his pale brown eyes.

“Satan’s spawn!” Falyn choked out.

“Why, how intuitive of you, my dear, because you’re close… but my kind enjoy being called Demon,” he said with a dark smile.

Falyn felt her heart falter as he watched her. He called himself a demon! If that was what he truly was, then the Lord help her!

“Speechless, I see. Good, now you can show me some respect!” He grabbed her chin. “I am going to have such fun breaking you in… and once I claim you, your ability to work the Gate will be mine. I can return to the other world with your father’s payment,” he declared.

Falyn wisely chose not to answer. Instead she watched him walk around her and it made her stomach hurt that the little Demon pervert intended to bed her.
Like hell
!

Literally it would be like hell too. She could only guess how a Dark Druid, who preferred to be called a Demon, would like to spend his wedding night. And while she was a kinky girl, she was surely not down with anything that involved “breaking her in”.

“I have no intention to sleep with you so you might as well write that off right now!” Falyn informed him.

“Your opinion on the matter truly does not matter, my dear.” He leaned in close to her face.

As Falyn turned away, his lips smeared along her cheek, making her skin crawl and her stomach heave.

“Naughty girl!” he breathed in her ear, as his hand came up again to jerk her face to his.

She could not break the hold he had and before she could think how to get free, his lips came down on hers. Her will was gone; her mind was fully there but her body could not move. She felt panic as his mouth kept up its assault on hers. After what seemed like a lifetime, he released her and she could once more move. The first thing she did was bring her hand to her mouth to wipe away the feel of his lips.

“See why I am not too worried about your unwillingness?” he taunted her. “Once I touch you, I control your every move… Lovely thought, is it not?”

“No, it’s not, and if you ever do that again I will rip you apart!” Falyn yelled.

He only laughed as he began pacing around her again.

Falyn was truly feeling horrified now. It was one thing to fight off a kiss, but quite another to be helpless to one. And the idea of him being able to make her do what he wished sent chills down her spine.

“The wedding will take place once you find something more appealing to wear,” he sneered and snapped his fingers.

A thin dark-haired woman came in and took Falyn by the hand. As she led her away, Falyn looked back at the Demon and, sure enough, he was watching her.

“Make sure she is dressed to my liking,” he warned the woman.

She merely nodded and kept dragging Falyn along with her.

Soon Falyn found herself in another part of the underground cave. There were a few more women here and each took turns fussing over Falyn. Falyn tried to talk to them but none would look at her, let alone speak. She gave up, letting them go about their work while she took the time to think of how she was going to escape. If it took only his touch to keep her from moving, it was going to take perfect timing to get out of this place. But she had no plans to marry the creepy Demon so she had to think of something – and quick!

Falyn was so lost in her thoughts she had not been taking any notice of what the women were dressing her in. So when she did look up into the full length mirror, she almost fainted. She was dressed in white, however nothing about it was wedding like. It was lace – see through lace – and it showed everything!

“I am not wearing this!” Falyn hissed at the women.

They still said nothing but kept picking at her hair. One slipped another white lace gown over her it helped hide her a little, but still left very little to the imagination.

The woman who’d brought her here once more took her hand and led her back through the cave. This time, though, Falyn tried to pull loose but found she couldn’t. Were these women controlled by the demon too? Made sense; why else was she not able to pull away?

“Please let me go,” Falyn begged.

But the woman did not even look back and once more Falyn was forced into the chamber of the Dark Druid. His eyes lit up when he saw her.

“I am most eager to have you!” he told her, circling her once more.

“Why the need to have me all but naked?” Falyn asked, knowing it was a stupid question but trying to stall for time.

“Because I wish it,” was all he said. “Come, we will go to my room.” He took her hand.

“Your room? Where’s the priest to marry us?” Falyn asked in a shriek.

“We are joining on my terms, my dear, meaning all I need to do is take you – which will happen in my bed with my brothers watching!” he said with a smirk.

“No!” Falyn yelled, but as much as she tried to pull away she could not.

“Is it my looks you find so lacking?” he asked as he dragged her along through the cave, deeper into the underground.

Falyn did not answer, nor did she need to, because within a blink of an eye the Druid became a dark–haired, dark-eyed dream boat!

“I can see you like this better… This was how I looked in my youth,” he smirked.

Lord knows how long ago that was
, Falyn thought. But still the idea of having sex with this Dark Druid from hell, even though he now looked like a male model, was too awful to contemplate.

“I don’t want to mate with you at all, no matter how you look!” Falyn informed him.

“Well, I have no plans to ‘mate’ with you, as you put it. I am going to take your body in such ways your screams will linger in my chambers for hours!” He once more flashed that dark smile.

“Ah, not helping!” Falyn muttered, trying to keep breathing. How was she going to live through such a thing?

They entered a room. She knew this was his because there was a large white bed, and, above them, on a makeshift ledge, were four creepy hooded dudes. She had no time to gather her wits before her Demon lord tossed her on the bed. He was no longer touching her, so she quickly backed up but the lace gown got entangled around one foot, making her slip. Before she could free it, the Demon was on her.

He pushed her down, one hand on her thigh, rubbing it, and the other holding her face. His lips came down and she held her breath, which might have worked had he not made her open her mouth. His tongue came into her mouth to meet hers, which, under his rule, responded. She moaned in pure disgust, which made him groan in pure need. His hand slipped down to her breast which he was now molding together with the other. It was not a good feeling – it hurt!

Falyn wanted to kick and scream, but she could not. Instead her hand came to seek his hair and another ran along his back. This was making her feel grossed out in a whole new way! But once his mouth came to her breast, she about died. With one quick tug he had the thin lace opened down to her waist and his mouth was quickly following a path to a place she was not going to let him touch. Her mind was desperately hashing out some way to break free, and then it came to her.

The Witch had told her the only way to win was to embrace her dark side… which was her wolf. She hoped her earlier belief that he no longer controlled her ability to change was right. With not a moment to lose, she forced herself to change. She felt her blood warm, heard her bones crack and she could sense her body becoming her own.

Now she was a huge wolf on a white bed with one very confused looking Dark Druid! She bared her teeth and let out a deep growl. The Demon leapt from the bed but she stalked him. Her hackles stood up as she moved in, her eyes still bright and focusing on his manhood. He did not miss her stare.

“Now, come on, be reasonable,” he pleaded.

She launched herself and he turned, just as her jaws let down on his thigh, so close to his goods he fainted. She did not waste time once he was down. She set off at a dead run for the doorway. Using her nose she followed the smell of fresh air up and out of the cave. Once she came to the upper part of the building that stood above the underground tunnels, she made for the first window and busted through it.

Covered in blood, fortunately not her own, and shattered glass, Falyn stood there in the moonlight breathing hard. Then, with a long howl, she tore off toward the woods. In the distance a wolf pack answered her call, and for once in this strange world she felt whole!

Chapter eighteen: Gateway

Alex and Lark had spent two days following the Binder, only to lose her, just like they had lost the whole bloody Dark Druid army! It was on the second night that their shimmery spirit showed up again, this time telling them to head south till they saw old ruins. The people there would help them, and Falyn would come because the Gate was there. Those words alone brought hope to Alex because it meant she was free! Now he was waiting for her with these people who turned out to be what was left of a desert clan. Ruins of rubble spread out as far as the eye could see; whatever had happened here and wiped out the rest of the clan had not been pretty.

Lark was able to work his magic with the people, and they’d soon sent some of their riders out to search for Falyn.

A messenger came back from the search party and spoke to Lark. He informed Alex.

“They’ve spotted Falyn!”

“Thank God!” Alex said, letting out a deep breath.

“The men aren’t going to risk showing themselves to her right now though, not as a huge wolf, but they’re keeping a watch from afar.” Lark chuckled over this.

Alex waited for her impatiently, and when he saw the large wolf coming toward him went to meet her halfway. Falyn lay down on the grass, her body folding and breaking until she was human, covered in dirt and blood, and naked. Alex had brought a blanket which he covered her with and then he scooped her up in his arms and carried her back to the camp. Parts of a stone building were still standing and the room inside was offered for their use.